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The easiest thing in the world is to assume we can just rock along with the way things are and all will be well. But that won’t solve anything.

The Dow rose 508 points, or 1.9% last week. The S&P 500 rose 1.5%. And the Nasdaq Composite rose the same 1.5%.

That’s what I call a bullish week, not because it was a rah, rah run for the high ground kind of week, simply because we ended the week up when we easily could have slid backwards.

We rose on uneventful volume, to be sure, but we rose.

Proof that it was a good week and that bulls are ready to breakout of their corral and maybe stampede higher was especially evident on Friday. After futures pointed to a hellish day ahead, on the heels of the President seen headed for the hospital on Thursday, once the market opened, buyers came in.

It wasn’t a “good” day Friday, but it easily could have been an ugly day. Instead, we saw how willing buyers were to come in and take their shots. That’s bullish.

Nobody should be broke in a nation filled with such robust saving and investing options. But they are. And it isn’t a problem the government will solve.

If you’re wondering if it’s time to get into stocks or time to go to the sidelines, you’re not alone.

While millions of new-to-the-market retail traders and investors bought the March dip, millions more went to the sidelines, parking $4.8 trillion in money market funds, more than during the financial crisis.

Now we know retail was right. And we know sidelined investors in money market funds started buying stocks in June, drawing down fund balances by $300 billion at the end of August, and sending markets to new highs.

Then September swept in and shook up everyone.

Now, just as stocks were trying to bounce off their September correction territory lows, in spite of what everyone expects will be a contested election, the President of the United States and his wife get hit by the coronavirus, and stocks are falling again.

So, investors are asking themselves, as they often do, “what now?”

The answer’s simple: start buying.

Here are 10 reasons you should be buying stocks now… and two strategies for buying them.

The average American is not enthusiastic about the increased use of automation by just about every industry you can name. But here’s what they’re missing…

Market analysts almost always use history as a guide when calculating likely stock market moves, especially when it comes to elections. This year’s no exception.

But, of all the historical references and metrics being incorporated this time around, there’s really only one that matters.

This election is going to be “contested” and only one other presidential election in modern era has been contested, and we know what the market did then.

Here’s why Tuesday’s debate almost guarantees a contested election, what the market did the last time the country waited to find out who their next president was going to be, and how you can profit handsomely by putting on an inexpensive option position to ride out the storm.

We went fly-fishing with a good pal and got much more than we expected… and it’s the perfect allegory for today’s markets.

Have you ever wondered, “What is the Fed?” or, more importantly, “What does the Fed DO?” Here’s the controversial origin story…

How to protect what’s yours when everyone else is screaming, “The sky is falling!”

This week’s going to be a battle between buy-the-dip retail traders and double-dip recession fearing investors. Each side has plenty of ammunition and both camps are looking for back-up in data out this week and possibly some direction from the debate on Tuesday.

Bulls are betting the dip in markets and correction in some mega-cap tech darlings are a buying opportunity. And they’re going to test the waters early this week. Bears are betting the dip’s not done and sloppy data on the heels of no-stimulus in sight will grease the path lower.

Last week’s fight gave both camps hope, but the round went to the bears.

My money’s with them because retail buy-the-dippers aren’t likely to get institutional follow-on momentum as money managers aren’t ready to commit the massive amount of sidelined cash they have at the ready until they see what the election brings.

Here’s what happened last week, what data points could move markets this week, and a final word on the near-term direction of equities.

What looked at the end of the week like a dull week, last week, was anything but.