Finance

Reuters Before the Bell report:

Talk about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Wall Street is still reeling from yesterday's sell-off, which stemmed from the failure of several municipal bond auctions, a ratings downgrade for bond insurer FGIC and Fed Chief Ben Bernanke's prediction of sluggish economic growth.

Later Bernanke predecessor Alan Greenspan weighed in, saying the U.S. is clearly on the edge of a recession.

Interestingly, Fed Gov. Frederic Mishkin is speaking on the central bank's tools for responding to financial disruptions.

Stock futures are now pointing sideways ahead of a boatload of economic data, including import-export prices, industrial utilization and capacity, consumer sentiment and the Empire State Manufacturing Survey.

U.S. Treasuries are thriving, with yields on two-year notes at their lowest in nearly four years. The dollar is down against the euro and the yen.

U.S. crude oil is holding above $95 a barrel after hitting a one-month high past $96. It's the same old themes - the possibility of getting cut off by Venezuela vs. worries over slowing demand because of the economy.

Here's an interesting take - - when it comes to investments, it's best to be depressed...?