There are some commodities that never seem to be affected by inflation the way most others are. The prices of gold and silver bullion from dealers like US Money Reserve have dropped for six-straight months. Crude oil prices have also been on the decline since the beginning of January, but this has not shown up in gasoline prices.

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Small business owners are already feeling the pinch of new and higher taxes as a result of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device companies; the 0.9 percent Medicare surtax for those earning more than $400,000; the income tax increase from 35 to 39.6 percent;

There was a run-up in DJ US Telecom last week, breaking out of a descending channel.  It is unclear where this ETF is headed this week and it is best to stay on the sidelines until a good signal can be found.

A long position in the Vanguard Total Market VIPERs ETF should be initiated as there is a very consistent Zig Zag pattern turning that has turned upward.

The markets experienced a major bounce on a short trading week.  Most of the price charts look quite bearish but I do not recommend shorting everything as this strategy could be quite dangerous at this time of year.  So I am going to take a wait-and-see attitude.