So what does the DOW's 379 point gain mean?

The DOW gained 379 points today--up 5.9 percent.

What, if anything, does this say about our current economy or the future?

Does it mean anything...at all? Or nothing?

Should we all start singing, "Forget your troubles, come on get happy..." or just not sing at all, because it would be irritating?

Anyone care to analyze why the DOW surged? And...what it says about our current economic crisis.

I find it hard to believe that it all hinges on the positive comments by Citi's CEO--but this is
what CNBC is alleging. There are countless stories out now, about the top five banks--including
Citi, being insolvent.

Any one?

What else ya got?

;)

...but I do appreciate your humor.

:)

(IOW, the Chicken Littles are running around and screaming in reverse.)

Running around screaming "The sky is lifting" when the DOW goes up is probably about
as wise as running around and screaming "The sky is falling" when the DOW is down.

So, what's a girl to think?

at least if the rethugs have anything to say about it.

...enough. And he's been on the job an entire 45 days.

Good point. Where's the praise for Obama and his miraculous market magic? After
all, if he's blamed when it's bad, he should be celebrated when things go well.

I've never seen that before.

That does give a person perspective.

Glaring, horrendous, terrifying perspective.

actually worth so why should we believe any one of them???

right now...its a guess

lather, rinse, repeat...

Then, let's see if this baby has legs. Markets don't recover until the most optimistic person had thrown in the towel.

:popcorn:

They are always followed by an equally violent drop.

Most of the biggest one day % gains ever recorded happened during the Great Depression.

...in the system.

for those paying attention

based on the still cooked books of one very shaky bank.

It means the public is sick and tired of the republicans doom and gloom and the markets are "proving" that it was all the republicans fault, and now the markets "love" what president Obama is saying, right? :eyes:

Ok, so it means nothing, but I sure would like to hear some talking head on the cable news shows say what I just did for a chanage! :evilgrin:

Smile about it insofar as hopefully a few short sellers got sucker-punched. Also note that the proposal to limit short sellers (many of whom have been "using" (note I did not say manipulating) the market to attack certain industries for their own gain) raised the potential that the market might start getting its footing back so that, although it might not recover in an heroic fashion, it might at least settle down some and stop gyrating.

If there are additional follow-through days over the next month, we might be basing for a while, which would be nice.

Caveat: If the banks stabilize, you might ruly see the onset of a mild recovery. Remember, the market is often (not always, but often) a 6-12 month lead indicator of recovery.

investors (who do it for a living) will have 3 days now to sell their bad stuff to people who don't know better, before it crashes again big on Friday or Mondays as it typically does.

I am cynical enough now to believe these short rallies are nothing more than created opportunities for those who want to sell and make a bit or get out or get positioned better before we hit 4000. They create a sucker's rally to convince people on the fence about the direction of the market that things are looking up and they'd better get a piece of it, ie to be buying what they need to be selling. The average investing public, who they have trained to buy on the dip for the long term, without further education on what constitutes a dip, or that long term may now be > than 50-60 years, or whether you can even buy and hold anymore in a market whose rules have changed to a more casino like environment, where getting quickly in and out of "trades" of various kinds is where money is made now.

I know for certain nothing happened, nor were any rules set forth by Obama that clarified anything that the market may have felt uncertain about, nor was there anything of substance in all the news I've read today that would boost the market by this much at this point. Ergo, I am still thinking this thing is operating like a casino, and end of the day, no matter how many small payouts, it is rigged so that the house always wins.

It was huge. This was not a rube rally.

I may just have reached the point that I am so cynical about what is going on that not trusting things has become a reflex.

The rally helped raise prices so people could sell stocks for a gain, before something goes bankrupt.

Check the DOW tomorrow to see how the President is doing his job then. ;-)

But if there is an upward trend of days and weeks, that might possibly begin to mean something.

It's not time to get back in, unless you're a bargain hunter and don't mind waiting a while to see a decent return on the cheap stocks you can buy in today's market. You also need to do some research on which cheap stocks to buy - don't just snatch up a ton of penny stocks solely because they're so cheap.

Today's rise also illustrates just how volatile - and therefore dangerous - the market is right now.

Likewise, a lot of these 5% drops mean very little other than psychology. Well, they may have impacts on the real economy, but they don't reflect really 5% less productivity in the economy. They're just lurching on anything.

If you followed news, the last couple of days, people kept saying we're ready for a short rally so as soon as a teeny piece of good news came, some people decided this must be it and bought - for the short rally. I might take advantage of this break in the bear to buy some gold.

.. its a good time to bail out of your 201K.

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-lisurg1112535293mar10,0,394281.story

I wouldn't get too excited about it. I think the market is desperate for any good news.