The Market Toolbox Blog

Maria Bartiromo recaps the year that was, recalling the collapses of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the credit crisis and $700 billion bailout, and the falling financial fortunes of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.

Also: the scandal that forced New York governor Eliot Spitzer to resign; the election of Barack Obama; swimmer Michael Phelps’ record-breaking achievements at the Beijing Olympics.

I have to tell you this… I had forgotten about how INCREDIBLE the events of this year were. Every investment bank we had is GONE! Literally GONE!

As I listened to the CNBC anchors recall how it all went down it really shocked me all over again. It was like a financial 9-11.

This Sunday Night I will broadcast the entire episode on the Market Toolbox LIVE so you can all get a peek at how the year unfolded… and I have to tell you… It is incredible.

Then, after the CNBC Special we’ll do out last LIVE show of 2008 with Jeffrey Brewer from the Swing Trading Club and look at what we expect for the rest of the year.

The Swing Trading Club was the newest product we offered this year and people really love it. Jeffrey always does his best to help people trade this market and even with all the chaos this year… Jeffrey did really well.

Kudos Jeffrey!

In Case You Missed it…

We had a GREAT presentation this week from Dr. Martin Weiss about deflation and what it means for the markets. It was fascinating and I hope you all got a chance to watch it.

It will be coming down tomorrow night so if you have not had a chance to see it please click here. It’s free to watch and it is very, very interesting.

This Week In The Research Lab

You may have noticed that the Research Lab is now open to new members for the first time in many months. So far people are signing up like crazy.

The comments that we are getting back from new members are great. Thanks folks! We appreciate all the great feedback.

You have to know that the re-launch pricing will be gone after the first of the year so be sure and sign up soon if you want to get in.

The Research Lab features our own in house screens for stocks on the move and here are this week’s best picks from each list.

Also, you may have heard that we actually set up full trade plans in there now and here is a peek at the trade plans performance for December 2008.

The Trade Planner will give you the entry, Stop-loss, break even and three price targets for each trade.

The stats are pretty good for December and we will likely have very few trade plans added as the holiday season is officially here and volume tends to be very light for the rest of the year.

There may be a new trade plan or two to go, but look for more set-ups early next year.

Typically we have seen very little activity in the last two weeks of the year and with the holidays falling smack in the middle of the week we expect even less action this year.

Finally…

A Christmas Message from Fred Thompson… Enjoy!