Before the bell today US stock futures are down with S&P 500 futures in the red 8.8 points. On Friday the markets sold off hard, with the DOW falling 223 points and the S&P 500 closing right above its 890 support level.

890 is a key level to watch and the market needs to hold above it today or else it will be in a downtrend and you can expect lower prices to follow over the coming weeks. We have had a tremendous rally since March, but nothing goes straight up forever.

Today oil futures [1] are taking a hit, down almost 5% as people seem to be betting that the recovery isn't as great as people think. Last week's unemployment data shows that the US is still in recession.

Bank of America paid out $713 million in dividends to the US government today. Pepsi is investing $1 billion in Russia over the next three years to take advantage of the growth in emerging markets and BRIC nations [2].

Rio Tinto is selling its US food packaging business. To get our free stock trading newsletter [3] just go to our WallStreetWindow.com home page.