Oil continued to be in charge of market direction yesterday, as its intraday price rose to nearly $107 before falling back and closing at $105.44/barrel.

Driving prices higher was continued fighting in Libya, as insurgents squared up against Gaddafi’s forces in fierce battles with civilians now becoming casualties as well.

Since there seems to be no end in sight, fears of a stalling recovery as a result of rosining oil prices are certainly justified. Other hot spots in Saudi Arabia are not helping to ease any of these fears.

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The markets have been on a slippery slope in part thanks to the price of oil catapulting above its $100/barrel threshold.

This is likely to continue throughout next week and beyond as unrest in the Middle East and N. Africa is sure to draw attention. The effect will likely be that the major indexes will again be torn by bullish and bearish sentiment as fears of a consumer slowdown and a subsequent derailing of the recovery will remain a major concern.

That’s the negative. The positive is that the domestic labor markets, at least in the latest report, have given encouragement that we finally may have turned the corner.

So what’s an investor to do?

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Last Sunday, I talked about “Looking Ahead To The Next Crash.” Today, let’s look at some highlights from “The Last Down Leg:”

My market outlook hasn’t changed much since 2000: we’re in a secular bear market.

I know, the market made a new high in 2007. It made a new high in 1973 as well, then fell off a cliff until it reached bottom at the end of 1974.

If you look at all the secular bear markets on a chart, they all look pretty much the same; three down legs interspersed by two profitable counter-trend rallies. October 2002 to November 2007 was a very profitable counter-trend rally; the rally off the March 2009 lows has been pretty spectacular as well.

The thing is, you have to have that last down leg to finish out the cycle.

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Reader Jason is looking to have his portfolio managed and emailed me as follows:

I am looking for someone to help manage my qualified, non-qualified and 401K accounts. I have spoken with a financial planner who wants 1.15% of account value annually for assets under management. I am concerned about how much we will be paying long term for this.

I don’t have any experience and am looking for someone to help manage these accounts. Is this the right direction to go in or do you have any other recommendations?

I sure do have some thoughts and comments.

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My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:

http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.php

It was a roller coaster ride in the markets, but in the end, the S+P 500 added only 0.10%.

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Crude Oil was the major influence on market direction yesterday as it powered through the $102/barrel barrier and closed above it.

Crude’s move was the result of reports that unrest continued in Libya and the Middle East in general. Supporting upward momentum were news that almost all of Libya’s daily oil production was halted and that Gaddafi continued his assault on rebels in a major oil center.

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