Dow 
2.70% Nasdaq 3.12%
2.70% Nasdaq 3.12%Posted on 02/24/2009 11:25:27 AM PST by LottieDah
NEW YORK – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has steadied Wall Street by telling Congress the recession might end this year.
In his semiannual report to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke predicted the economy is likely to keep contracting in the first six months of 2009. But he also said "there is a reasonable prospect" the recession will end this year. He warns that a recovery will require getting credit and financial markets to operate normally.
Bernanke's comments helped the market absorb a worrisome report on consumer spending. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for February came in at 25, well below expectations. The finding is the latest sign that consumers are deeply worried about the recession and the safety of their jobs.
The Fed chairman spoke a day after the government moved closer to dramatically expanding its ownership stakes in the nation's banks, including Citigroup Inc. The Treasury Department, the Fed and other banking regulators said Monday they could convert the government's stock in the banks from preferred shares to common shares.
The market was up a day after another sharp drop in stocks that left the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index near 12-year lows. Some bargain-hunting was to be expected after a big pullback; the Dow fell 251 points and the major indexes all fell more
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This is such a laugher.
I don’t see how, but I hope so.
and monkies might fly out of my oval orifice
so all this trillions of debt on our children’s backs is not necessary then.
What made the market rally today is that I sold everything and went totally to cash. My timing is always impeccably wrong.
Wonder what the market is going to do tomorrow after Zero’s speech.
2.70% Nasdaq 3.12%Bernanke has a bad track record as a prophet.
Funny, I did very similar. I went 50% money market and 50% moderate risk portfolio...as usual, my timing sucks as well.
Oh well, I do not think it finalizes until the end of today. Plus after DUMBO speaks tonight, the market will drop another 600 points tomorrow...
WOW! When Bernanke speaks....
Wait till BO tells us how much he’s going to tax businesses and high income (sucessful) people tonight.
“What made the market rally today is that I sold everything and went totally to cash. My timing is always impeccably wrong.”
Great minds think alike.
I wouldn’t count on the 4% growth by next year that Bernanke predicts...it will be about as reliable as all of Obama’s other promises.
By Summer 2010, Bernanke will say, “As I have always said...”
You won't be disappointed.
It won’t end unless it’s with the same “smoke and mirrors” that caused this whole thing in the first place. The Great Depression will deepen throughout 2009 and maybe into 2010. And until it “bottoms”, we won’t be seeing a definite turnaround.
There will always be the little jogs up and down and some good news and some bad news, but the overall trend is going to be down, down and down, until the bottom is smacked into, hard...
Then we can work on building our way out of it, hopefully with solid gains, over several years and not more “smoke and mirrors” of the last decade or so...
So if the market closes positive the news tomorrow will trumpet that the market rose “in anticipation of xxxxxxxxx in Obama’s speech”
Easy (hah!):
0bama, the meddling morons in his administration, and the porkbarreling socialists in Congress STFU, sit on their hands and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL for the remainder of their terms of office.
President Biden.
Bernanke has a bad track record as a prophet.
_____________
Yes he does! Very bad.
From an economic standpoint: I want it to end as quickly can be arranged.
From a political standpoint: I hope it lasts through 2010 into the 2012 cycle.
I’m so torn over this.
Oh well, I’ll cope.
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