Who could forget the wild, four-day ride investors took during the second week in August? On the previous Friday evening, the world was rocked by news that Standard & Poor's had made the unprecedented decision to downgrade the United States' credit rating from AAA to AA+. World markets plunged before the U.S. market opened that Monday morning, and investors were panicked. The day marked the single worst trading day of 2011. The S&P 500 dropped 6.7%, and Nasdaq fell 6.9%.
And the week was only beginning.
There's good reason to be both optimistic and cautious as we ring in the New Year.
