Michael Doran

My primary objective in the stock market is to lose the least amount of money when I am wrong and make the most amount of money when I am right. As Friday's big sell-off clearly demonstrates, that goal's not easy to achieve in a market this random. After this week's "follow-through day," all bets are off on this signal of a fledgling rally.

Here's a recap of Monday's action.

In highly volatile, news-driven markets it can be challenging to know the right time to re-invest. Deciphering the huge amount of economic data, interpreting the news media, and the evaluating opinions from talking heads on TV can often be daunting.