The market took a nice rebound last week, but seems a little fishy as this may be temporary. I still expect to see a lot of volatility for the rest of the year.

Yes ugly. With China's economy retracting and numerous company layoff announcements, this isn't a shocker.

The jobs report that came out this morning was a huge miss. Markets are going to suffer for it today, and I expect that trend to continue for the rest of the year.

However, if you consider yourself a long-term investor, you may want to do some research as this could be a buying opportunity.

I think there is still a lot of uncertainty out there in the markets. I expect a lot of volatility for the rest of the year.

At least on the surface, it looks like the markets are confident either way.

It will be very interesting to see if the Fed decides to raise interest rates today. It will also be very interesting to see how the market reacts.

Very true. I imagine it will be a raise in September although a small one. I agree it is time, and it needs to be done.

Yes, this is supportive in my view. Q/E has overstayed it's welcome by far - for reasons we probably all don't yet know. Any raise in rates will be a pleasant surprise for me personally, and others in fixed savings.

With the job report coming in fairly strong (although the market may not agree), I think this gives the Fed what it needs to raise rates in September. What is everyone else's thoughts?

Oil has rebounded quite a bit over the last 2 days. I think it is a temporary jump and will go back down to around $40. What does everyone else think?

Each person’s case and risk toleration is different and unique. There is no correct “portfolio”. The key questions to ask are what is your time horizon and what is your appetite to take risk. If a person has a willingness to take some risk and is investing for retirement, I would recommend to allocate some portion of your portfolio in stocks. The volatility is higher, but the returns compensate you in the long term. Ideally you want to diversify your portfolio into several other asset classes as well to balance that volatility.

Hi Frank,

Our house (40%), MMA (50%), cash (7%) and a little (appx 3%) gold and silver.

With hindsight, most of the bulls on Wall St. would say I made a mistake by not investing in stocks, however I am in the boat of the lost generation. In my Army days, I had a little money (that I didn't have) in a mutual fund account for nearly 8 years that dropped 45% over that time, then got burned by the recession not long after, only to see stocks climb year after year. I have a friend that invested in a diverse portfolio 4 years ago. The Dow climbed 2500 points, and his account was up about 1.4%. Better now, but wasn't worth it for him at the time, when my MMA was earning .85%. Unless you are an active investor and can manage risk, personally I will pass and smell the flowers, sleep and be happy.

General question, and maybe a further topic we can all discuss here. If you are not invested in stocks, what are you invested in? What kind of asset classes are you invested in short term and for the long term?

Right now, my portfolio consists of:
40% stocks
10% commodities
10% bonds
40% cash

Personally, I'm not in stocks - I don't trust the market. However a correction or something larger is obviously underway.

In this environment, it's usually the right thing to buy confirmed bottoms, at trendlines, or look for shorts. Always be careful and I highly recommend using stops with a strategy. Realize that in the past, there were several attempts to get a correction. We're here now, with lots of areas already in correction territory. It's ok to look for opportunities if your patient and assume that stocks will go up yet again, but for most people, it's scary to dabble in and out of things with volatility on the rise.

Well the market has obviously taken a sharp turn. Thoughts on how to play the market this week?