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For today's Fast Break let's take a trip around the marketplace and see what we can look forward to for the next few weeks. We do have a lot of volatility out there, and with that comes opportunity.

S&P500/Nasdaq/Dow: We have started out 2009 very coldly, with the S&P 500 down something like 24% in the first two of months of the year, and we are down 56% from the October 2007 highs. As bear markets in the stock market go, this is just about as bad as it gets. I would like to say that we are near the end of this, but even though some studies are oversold, I do not think we are there yet. Weekly and monthly charts are still looking very weak, and we have yet to see anything that looks like market capitulation.

The Dow Jones chart on all three major time frames daily, weekly and monthly looks very heavy and right now in my view the Dow seems to be in the leadership role right now. I see support at around 5800 and just above 4000. Barring some sort of major political or technological break through I don't really see much to keep us from testing at least the 5800 level.

The NASDAQ is trading at about 1/5 of its value from the dot.com bubble. It has faired only slightly better than the other indices, and I am looking for the heaviness to continue there, but I am holding out some hope that this will be the market that will eventually lead us back higher. We cannot borrow and spend our way out of this, but we can innovate and invent our way back out of this hole.

Bear markets can and do have rallies, and you have to keep this in mind when trading here. Those rallies can be rather intense, as a market becomes so "short" it can explode higher like a tightly coiled spring, so handle these with care. To stay up-to-date with these markets, sign up for my weekly STI newsletter.

Treasury complex: The 30 year market has dropped roughly 16 handles from its panic laden highs back in December, and a number of studies have become oversold. Trouble in the equity markets or political turmoil can spark rallies in here, as these like the stock market are in a bear market, and are thus subject to intense bear market rallies.

The 10-year has suffered less of a correction than 30-year market, and while we are currently channeling lower, three closes above the 122 area basis June can score a technical breakout and can push prices higher. If this break out were to be timed with a larger decline in the equity markets, the rally can be intense.

The Eurodollars and other short-term items remain at very high levels and I expect them to remain there for the foreseeable future.

Gold/Silver/Copper: Funds are holding a massive short position in copper and this can fuel a rally out of the current sideways channel, which we are trapped in. This market has had very little if any recovery after plunging to its lows, so yes there is the potential for a bounce, when global demands finally begins to improve. Most of us were looking for an improvement in things to start in the second half of 2009, however the horrendous performance of the equity markets is beginning to force even the most optimistic of us to rethink that, in fact Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart said this morning that he sees the economy shrinking "at a dramatic rate" and sees "substantial risks" to recovery in the second half of the year. So until we see both supportive charts and some degree of improvement in the real economy somewhere, expect copper to remain in its funk.

Gold has been the most solid of all commodities and is the only one remotely close to its pre-correction highs. This has been manifest of two things, flight to quality buying and European concerns about the viability of the Euro to survive a serious recession/depression in Europe. Gold's favorite thing is inflation, followed closely by fear of turmoil. Depressions are not known for their inflationary properties, but they do bring fear of turmoil, and given vast amount of spending that has been done and is going to be done inflation could easily show up at some point down the road. So for now expect gold to a roller coaster, with some good trading opportunities.

Silver has not held up as well as gold, due to drops in industrial demand and this will keep silver an underperformer to gold.

Coffee/Sugar/Cocoa: All three of these took a beating yesterday with the stock market, has did pretty much everything else. Cocoa had been holding a fairly bullish stance despite all of the problems out there, however we are looking at dropping grind numbers, and demand issues surfacing so we may not see such stellar performance here near term. Coffee also suffered yesterday and we are trading very near recent lows, and there can be some bullish influence down the road. Sugar did get hit yesterday but has shown some resistance to the problems and I maintain a gently bullish stance towards sugar.

Crude oil remains married to the equity markets and features very volatile trade and I think it is bets viewed as a day-to-day item, which has good trading possibilities, and I do expect continued choppiness.

The currencies are subject to an unusual amount of political overtones, and I am still looking for some sort of solid trend somewhere to sink my teeth into. The Yen may very well continue its slide.

Grain prices remain very weak, and charts on the corn and beans look weak as well, offsetting this is a very large small speculator short position, which may feed some sort of rally, but until the appetite for risk returns, these markets can stay in their bearish funk.

We have a lot of interesting things going on and we are ripe with possibilities, so pay attention and manage your risk. Make sure you are getting my STI newsletter, as you will get updates every week regarding these very things.

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NEW! Complimentary Weekly Report

Introducing the Strategic Trade Index (STI), a new and innovative report from Industry veteran Sterling J. Smith. This dynamic trading tool is easy-to-use, and was developed with the commitment to provide up-to-date market information to all types of traders. See for yourself the power of this tool, sign up for this COMPLIMENTARY weekly report today!