Look for another sell off on Wall Street, as futures are indicating a very sharp drop at the open. After the volatile week last week, many of us had some hopes that the Bush approved $700 billion bailout plan that was passed late on Friday would help spark a slight bounce, but that is not to be the case, and stocks are set for a much lower open to get the week started.

There is going to be a lot of pain out there today.

Futures are trading higher today, but it is going to take a lot more than one day of upside to make up what we lost yesterday.

Yesterday started off slowly as investors were skeptical that the proposed Bush bailout plan was going to be enough to save the troubled economy, but that fear turned to panic once the market realized that the plan was not going to go through all at yesterday afternoon.

Lawmakers are going to be on holiday until Thursday to observe the Jewish holidays, but there should still be some action taking place behind closed doors aimed at ironing out a new deal that will satisfy both Congress and Wall Street. We will see if / when that is able to take place.

The Bush administration is pushing hard for its $700 billion bailout, but Wall Street doesn’t believe that the Bush plan is going to be enough to help bailout the struggling economy, and futures are trading sharply lower this morning now that it appears that plan is going to pass Congress later this week.

Part of the deal would include rebates of up to $600 for individuals, and $1,200 for couples. Along with these rebates, the deal will also include tax breaks for business investment. All said and done, the stimulus package could total $150 billion.

What I really like about the package is that it looks to fight the growing weakness in the housing market by lifting limits on the size of mortgages that can be financed by housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

So let’s get to what you are really interested in… when will you get your money? Fair question, and let’s look at what United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has to say about the package:

When asked about how long it would take for the money to get into the hands of taxpayers, Paulson stated that it would probably take about 60 days from the time the law is in enacted. But let’s do the math here.. the plan will not be official until at least the middle of February, then we add 60 days to that and we are looking at somewhere in the first few weeks of April, maybe even further into the month. That, as we all know, is tax time, and the IRS is definitely going to have its hands full dealing with incoming tax returns and taking care of these tax rebates. I hope Paulson is right about the 60 days… but the IRS is definitely going to have to hustle to get that accomplished.

For now, nothing is set in stone, we will have to just wait and see what exactly the White House and Democratic Congress are able to agree upon over the next couple of weeks.

For a good article on just what the stimulus package would mean to you, check out the piece by Peter Cohan over on BloggingStocks.

In reaction to today’s report, prices have dropped down to $90.18, down $1.72 on the day, and for a brief period were trading under the psychological $90 mark down to a low of $89.26.

While prices falling from their recent run to $100 is definitely a good thing for all of you out there that are fearing inflation, it would be wise not to read too much into this move, or better yet, do not expect to see prices retreating too much further south.

According to the International Energy Agency, world demand continues to accelerate. It estimates that global consumption will run at an average of around 87.8 million barrels a day. At this rate, 2008 will see a demand growth rate of 2.3 percent, and with powerhouse countries like China and India developing an ever increasing thirst for oil these figures will only continue to move higher into the end of the decade.

One thing that could result in lower demand is a slowdown on the U.S. economy. George Bush has been pleading his case in the Middle East over the past week for OPEC nations to lift their daily quotas at the oil cartel’s next meeting. Bush has stated that the current high oil prices could lead to slowdowns in not only America, but all oil consuming countries.

Bush went on to explain to OPEC that any sort of slowdown would lead to consuming countries buying less oil and gas, so that it would be in their best interest to help America avoid a recession by giving us some price relief. Whether or not OPEC pay attention to Bush’s pleas remains to be seen.