It really has been a roller coaster this year...housing, oil, credit crunch and talk of a recession the last couple of months. We've seen very volatile markets and you've probably seen your investment accounts fluctuate a lot this year!  Good luck with your holiday shopping this weekend and here's a quick look at the Roller Coaster  Stock Market of 2007.  Courtesy of SFOmag.com:

Credit Crunch: Round Two
The Dow lost 8.2 percent between mid-July and mid-August as news of just how bad things were in the housing and debt markets came out. In late July, the Housing Index fell below its July 2006 low and continues to move lower as of this writing in mid-November. But stock market investors are a resilient bunch, and when the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve stepped in to lower rates and ease the credit crunch in mid-August, the markets took off. By early October, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were once again setting new highs. However, this enthusiasm did not last, and once again the markets started to plunge. This prompted the Federal Reserve to lower the federal funds rate once more. On Oct. 31, with a 9-to-1 vote, the Fed lowered interest rates to 4.5 percent in the hopes of somewhat easing the struggles with the economy.