The Wall of Worry just keeps adding more bricks. Although there has been much talk about the impact of low oil prices on the U.S. high yield debt market and by extension the U.S. banks that did the lending, the bigger worry now is the stability of the European banking system. It is like 2011 all over again. Also, there continue to be signs of an insidious corporate “earnings recession.” Such headlines add to the steady stream of “worry bricks” that have so confounded disciplined fundamental investors for at least the past seven months or so.

Santa Claus is trying his hardest to keep spirits bright among stock investors. But the President and the House are not playing nice and just might find a lump of coal in their stockings. Neither appears willing to give an inch, so some observers predict that we will indeed go over the fiscal cliff, at least until mid-January.