With pretty much all major indexes pointing toward a lower market open this morning, it's time to think about the scary reality of the that stocks are facing right now... Welcome to the failure zone:

Make no mistake: the tumble stocks took in late 2008 has changed the way we invest. The uncertain market has changed our risk appetite. Right now, most eyes have turned to the “widow and orphan stocks” – the stocks deemed safe enough for even the most unsophisticated and conservative investors.

Among them are regulated utilities.

Friday marked the first day since last October that the S&P 500 stayed above 1,000 for the entire trading day. Can we hold at that level? Here's a look:

As expected, the S&P 500 surged another 4% in the last week, making things especially interesting as the nation prepared for the big banks' stress test results and a slew of mediocre earnings... More on that later.

First, here's what's going on in the markets right now:

May is finally upon us, and we've managed to get there without breaking the uptrend that carried us through April. During the last couple of weeks, we've looked at short-term charts to get an idea of where the market's headed. This week, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a gander and see what the market looks like somewhat longer-term.

Here's the chart:

Another surprisingly good week for the markets as investors perpetuate the rally that we've been riding for the last month. Part of the reason? It's earnings season! Let's take a look at the chart:

“The Death of Buy and Hold” flashes on the screen on CNBC…

Normally, seeing editorialized headlines touting the end for value investors on financial TV wouldn’t be a shock – but that latest television segment is just the last nail in the coffin for an investing strategy that’s been taking a lot of heat in the past year.

Last week, we took a look at the cream of the income investing crop – the 14 stocks that raised their dividends last month. And while those 14 were a minority in February, it wasn’t by much. Only one more stock lowered its dividend than raised it.

But before you get too excited about yet more economic news that’s “less bad” than expected, consider the magnitude of the cuts. Companies that increased their dividends did so by an average of 7.1% – in stark contrast to the 78.2% average dividend decrease.

New month, new market... the “March Madness” we saw last month may have taken a break this week – the S&P is only up 18 basis points (0.18%) since last Friday’s update. But things look especially interesting now… let’s take a look at the charts:

“Investors who count on dividend payments as a ‘safe’ investment are getting hammered right along with share prices,” says Kenneth Musante in a CNNMoney article on why 2009 is the year of the dividend decline.

According to the article, S&P analysts are expecting dividends to decrease 22.6% this year – the most since 1938.

This marks the second time Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP) has graced the pages of the Rhino Stock Report. And while its appearance might make it seem like a certain investment newsletter has a drinking problem, the reason for this TAP redux is much more disciplined than that.

Do you know the name Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC)?

If not, don’t be surprised, you’re not alone. CSC is the biggest – and best – information technology (IT) company you’ve never heard of. It’s certainly got size on its side: the company took in more than $17 billion in revenues in 2008, it’s a constituent of the S&P 500, and it employs almost 100,000 people.

If there’s been one constant for investors over the last year, it’s been volatility. In October, the S&P 500 – an index known for its stability – hit record volatility as options traders predicted annualized price fluctuations of over 73%. Market volatility has been a constant concern for investors who want to risk money in today’s market.

That’s why the Rhino Stock Report added the ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SDS) to the model portfolio in a Rhino Alert sent out to subscribers on January 14. Unlike most of the newsletter’s recommendations, however, this one doesn’t fit the Rhino Stock mold. So why’d we add it?

“Big business feel. Small business price.” It’s a concept that resonates pretty strongly among entrepreneurs who don’t want to lose sales just because they don’t have the infrastructure capabilities of the bigger guys who are willing to spend more on overhead.

It’s hard to look at Peter Schiff with anything other than awe.

After all, the 44 year-old president of Euro Pacific Capital was mocked on networks like CNBC and Fox for predicting “wild” things like a real estate bust, a credit crunch, and a deep recession. Two years later, and Schiff’s original prophecies have come true.

Action and adventure are overrated – at least when it comes to investments. It’s time to bring on the boring stocks.

While hip companies like Apple (AAPL) and Abercrombie & Fitch (AFN) provide investors with a dash of pizazz for every dollar of profit, there’s something to be said of the boring stocks – the companies that make hopelessly uninteresting products like database software solutions or those plastic things at the ends of your shoelaces, but have awesome financials, stellar growth, and enough cash to buy a small island nation for their next junket.

How big is your computer’s hard drive? I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts it’s a heck of a lot larger than it was 10 years ago.

Our data storage needs have changed substantially over the last decade. In the mid 1990s, your copy of Windows 95 took up a whopping 50 megabytes of storage space ­– today, an install of Windows Vista requires a minimum of 15 gigabytes.

Is there such a thing as recession-proof?

Now that we’re in the midst of recession and approaching 2009 with breakneck speed, there’s no way to draw readers more surely than for investing publications to tout the merits of their “recession-proof” picks.

“Whatever hopes the market held that the Senate would be able to cobble together a last-ditch package for the auto industry vanished when the bill collapsed after Thursday’s close, and markets felt the pain overnight and into the morning,” said David Gaffen in his blog on the Wall Street Journal.

It seems like transportation companies are doomed to fail in this country, be they the automakers, airlines, or – dare I say it – Amtrak. With the auto industry in dire straits right now, many Americans are wondering why transportation companies can’t seem to survive. But maybe we should start focusing on what needs to change rather than how bad things have gotten…