Executives at ING, the Dutch banking, insurance and asset-management company, are predicting a broad recovery for the U.S. economy in 2010. And they see that fueling a tremendous stock market rally, taking the S&P 500 to levels approaching 1275 -- about 15% higher than its current level.

The reason for ING's optimism: It expects pent-up demand to become unleashed next year. Companies that have delayed everything from equipment upgrades and maintenance to expansion plans will be forced to begin modest spending on these items. And consumers, who have also delayed purchases and maintenance on their homes while paying down debt, will also begin spending at modestly higher levels.

Apparently undeterred by the second-most significant crash in the history of the U.S. stock market, the majority of institutional investors and financial advisors plan to increase their use of alternative investments despite their poor performance during last year's financial meltdown. A recent survey from independent research firm Morningstar and Barron's financial magazine indicates that instead of the market's meltdown leading to more conservative investor behavior, money managers and financial advisors are doubling down on some of the same investments that wiped out trillions of dollars and ruined many.

"Both institutions and advisors continue to view alternative investments optimistically, despite their questionable performance, correlation, and liquidity during last year's global downturn," said Steve Deutsch, director of the pension, endowment, and foundation database at Morningstar. "Again this year, the majority of participants indicate that they plan to increase allocations to alternatives, but with greater scrutiny and due diligence given to those investments."

Stronger than expected retail sales propelled the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) to a triple-digit gain on Monday, maintaining both the market's upward momentum from last week and optimism about the economic recovery.

By mid afternoon, major stock indexes rose more than 1%, with the Dow Jones industrial average jumping 155 points to hit a new 13-month high, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index breaking through the 1,100 mark, to 1,110. At the closing bell things had settled down a bit, with the Dow up 136.49 points, or 1.33%, to 10,406.96. The broader S&P 500 ($INX) gained 15.82 points, or 1.45% to finish at 1,109.30, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ($COMPX) rose 29.97, or 1.38%, to 2,197.85.

When California Treasurer Bill Lockyer sought a $7 billion federal loan guarantee from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in May, it was a clear indication that states, and not just financial institutions, were struggling mightily to find firm fiscal footing in the face of the Great Recession.

As states continue to grapple with the current harsh economic conditions, the Pew Center on the States has compiled a list of the 10 that are closest to financial collapse, part of a report on the budgetary health of all 50 states. The report warns of potentially damaging consequences if states fail to take decisive measures to fix their money woes.

Western Union (WU) is expanding into the business of prepaid debit and credit cards, and Wyclef Jean is selling them softly with his song and his star power. Jean, the Grammy-winning rapper and former Fugee, is helping the money-sending service launch a co-branded prepaid Visa gift card, just in time for the holidays, tapping his appeal as a humanitarian leader to solidfy Western Union as the remittance leader among immigrants, who often send money home during the holiday season.

The U.S. Immigration Department estimates that worldwide remittances total more than $126 billion.

As news broke that the U.S. jobless rate crossed the dreaded 10 percent mark, many investors braced for the market's reaction. The response to word that unemployment reached levels not seen since 1983? The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 17.46 points to 10,023.42 and the S&P 500 ended the day at 1,069.30, up 2.67 points. Not exactly a sell-off.

So did news on Friday of 10.2 percent unemployment represent a buying opportunity? For those who follow market trends, it did.

Fannie Mae's (FNH) report of a third-quarter loss of $19.76 billion and subsequent plea to the federal government for $15 billion in additional aid is sure to intensify a big question that so far has gone unanswered: What can be done to stem the bleeding at the giant mortgage lender and its sibling Freddie Mac (FRE)? Given this week's bankruptcy filing by CIT, which will probably lead to the loss of $2.3 billion in taxpayer money, Fannie Mae's request for another $15 billion will strike many as throwing more good money after bad.

Fannie Mae had previously posted second-quarter losses of $14.8 billion, on top of $23.2 billion of red ink in the first quarter, leading Morningstar equity analyst Matthew Warren to write in a report: "Nothing fundamentally has changed with the situation at Fannie Mae, and we remain quite certain that the equity shares are worthless barring a ridiculous public policy decision on the part of the U.S. government."

You would think that an S&P 500 Index fund would be one of the easiest investments to own. But it turns out that choosing from among the many mutual funds that track the performance of stocks in the broader market is fraught with risks.

In theory, of course, picking an index fund should be pretty straightforward. After all, the name "index fund" implies that all it's supposed to do is mimic the results of an index. But Standard and Poor's Equity Research, whose parent company manages the S&P 500 Index, is warning investors that all index mutual funds are not the same.

As health care costs continue to rise, many corporations are passing the increases onto workers through higher health insurance premiums. One of the notable exceptions is IBM (IBM), which last week decided it could save money by actually taking the opposite tack.

The computer services giant says it will now pay for 100 percent of the primary health care coverage of its U.S. employees. Big Blue's move -- spending more upfront to prevent disease to be able to spend less on more costly disease treatment down the road -- may influence more companies to do the same, no matter what is ultimately decided in the health care reform debate on Capital Hill.

How do you commemorate the worst stock market crash in history? With the news that another devastating economic implosion may be nearing its end. That's where America finds itself on the 80th anniversary of the Great Depression -- reacting to the first positive GDP numbers in a year, slowly pulling itself out of the Great Recession, and looking for ways to make sure the country doesn't wind up mired in a decade of dismal economic conditions similar to the one that began 80 years ago on Oct. 29, 1929.

Analysts and market watchers have been comparing the two meltdowns all year, and investors can take note of the similarities in their causes as they consider how to navigate their portfolios through the aftermath (we hope) of the most recent one.