Stocks Face A Rough Road Ahead [AUDIO]

It's been a volatile few months for the stock market and the rough road is expected to continue into the near future.

"This week, markets are focused on the summit in Europe and we'll get some type of answer whether we'll have more Europe or less Europe as it relates to the likelihood of the Euro surviving as we know it today. Plus, we're waiting for the Supreme Court to make a ruling on the Obama health care reforms and we're in the midst of the bickering that goes on in the height of an election season," said Ken Kamen, President of Mercadian Asset Management. "Markets are volatile to say the least. The incoming information on a near-daily basis is good and bad and markets are certainly susceptible to that."

"We're in a market environment where anything that's 'risk-on' like stocks, are trading at historically cheap levels, while anything that's 'risk-off', like bonds, treasuries, savings accounts, are trading very, very expensively," said Kamen. "People are very afraid to commit money right now and you're seeing them being skittish anytime something in the news gives them a reason to run for the hills. But, as soon as they see something that might indicate it's going another way, they don't want to miss the train if it's going to leave the station, so you get these wild swings in the market."

Last week, the Dow lost 0.9 percent and the S&P fell 0.6 percent, but the Nasdaq was up 0.7 percent.

"What the market needs is certainty. As soon as we get more clarity about what Europe is doing and as soon as we see what's going on here with the state of our economy after the election, the market will start to calm down and likely move higher," said Kamen. "Markets do not like uncertainty and with elections coming up, the fact that we're awaiting the supreme court decision on health care reform and with major news potentially out of the summit in Europe this week, markets are jittery."

"Most people have sold stocks from their accounts down to the level where they can sleep at night," said Kamen. "So, this is more of an issue for institutional investors who are trying to beat a benchmark on a daily basis. Most individuals know it's a choppy period of time. It's summer, so volumes are lighter. I'm not sure the average investors should be rocked by what's going on in the market. Because, the things that are ailing us are all well-known."