"A main theme for the year is the underlying trend of volatility would go up, but I was not smart enough to predict the volatility of the volatility. The underlying trend of volatility is still up,” - Richard Bernstein, Merrill’s chief investment officer.....(If you understand that… good luck to you)

The stock market has become very volatile and irrational over the last year. I contribute some of this volatility to the uncertain economic climate. However, in my opinion a big cause of the huge price swings in the market is the tremendous growth of hedge funds and their need to generate short term returns.