Correction Coming?

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks face a lengthy lineup of political and corporate events in the coming week that could reinforce -- or derail -- a recent bout of selling some analysts are calling a correction.

A Federal Reserve rate meeting, President Barack Obama's state of the union address and the possibility that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke won't get his confirmation vote may take center stage.

Plus, 12 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (INDU 10,173, -216.90, -2.09%) and 130 companies in the S&P 500 /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,092, -24.72, -2.21%) report results. And China may again spook markets if data or policymaker comments signal Beijing is getting closer to raising rates.

Global monetary policy, U.S. politics and corporate results can take much of the credit for stocks' sorry performance in the past week.

"This is a correction precipitated by fear about a Chinese slowdown, uncertainty at the Fed and populist rhetoric by Mr. Obama on banks," said John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers.

Stocks Nosedive 550 Points in 3 Days

Intraday

Daily chart -- crashed through 50-day MA

Stocks Find Resistance at 50-Day Moving Average

Both the lower Bollinger Band and 50-day moving average are at about the same level. I would not be surprised to see a bounce off this level in the next few days.

Jobless Increase, Slackening Manufacturing Sends Stocks Running for Cover

Dow is down 200+! This following yesterday's plunge of 120.

Russia Diversifies Away From Dollar

from FT:

Russia’s central bank announced on Wednesday that it had started buying Canadian dollars and securities in a bid to diversify its foreign exchange reserves.
Analysts said the move could be a sign of increased diversification of emerging market central bank assets away from the dollar and into investments denominated in other commodity-linked currencies, such as the Australian dollar.

Dollar Takes Off Like a Rocket

Commodities and commodity currencies are getting hit very hard by this.

Stock Market Freefall!

Stocks are down 200 points and still plunging!