Our speaker was Tom McCandless, an investment professional with over 25 years of experience, including over 20 years as a nationally ranked institutional financial services analyst. Tom gave us a detailed history of the stock market and shared his perspective on today’s financial crisis. He referred to much of what we’re going through as “unchartered territory” yet showed how certain aspects follow predictable trends. He explained the difference between Technical and Fundamental Analysis and gave some advice on how much of ones portfolio should be invested in the stock market. Tom’s PowerPoint Presentation, including his stock recommendations can be found in the Investments area of this website (lower right).
The Barn Blog 
On a broader market perspective, here is an article from Michael Lewis (author of the infamous book “Liars Poker”) on the recent crisis. Makes some interesting points.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom