Zacks' Blank: Risk of recession and a market correction are both way up

John Blank, chief investment strategist and chief economist at Zacks Investment Research, says the conditions are increasingly bringing back the spectre of a recession, with the odds of a protracted economic slowdown now standing at about 50 percent. Moreover, he doesn't believe that the widely anticipated interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve today will really do anything to alter that course. Blank says that the recession could trigger a stock market sell-off that could cut valuations by more than 40 percent, though he does not think that any such decline will be long-lived.

Allison Hadley discusses research she did for NC Solutions which showed that 73% of Americans say little treats are crucial to quality of life; as a result, they're spending an average of $360 a year on $5 indulgences like chocolate, coffee, and candles.

Scott Bennett, founder of Invest With Rules brings his trend-following methodology to the Market Call, where he helps to prove the adage that "disagreement makes a market" by coming to the opposite conclusion on a stock covered by John Dorfman of Dorfman Value on yesterday's show.