[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Someone explain things to me and, yes, I know what the Bible says, but this is all completely crazy.

[An.American.Expatriate]

Speculation. Calculated speculation.

[LouAvul]

You’ve lost your butt but the market is soaring. I don’t understand what you’re saying.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Shrinkage should mean the survivors are stronger.

[ilgipper]

It is still 5,000 of its high a couple years ago, and is bound to fall back down before this thing is over. It seems to me like a short rally because people sitting on the sidelines were getting back in the market. There are too many closings, cuts, and pay reductions going on to produce a recovery.

[dfwgator]

Why does the stock market keep going up?

Because PT Barnum was right!

[BGHater]

-PPT and conspiracy bump-

To be honest, no one knows why the stocks are rebounding. Sure, there are some signs of a recovery, ie Baltic Dry index.

However, the standard method of investing in broad mutual and index funds is a proven, stay the course idea.

I know several money managers how gone fishing until a later date.

[philly-d-kidder]

It is the Obama porkulus recession Bubble...

[WellyP]

Betting on deflated Dollars!

[STONEWALLS]

...I don’t understand it either...I’m on the sidelines in cash and am reluctant to go back in...I feel this March to June rally is fool’s gold....my nest egg can’t afford another leg down.

[TSgt]

The market is a leading indicator.

Things are often priced into the market however I believe we simply have no reference for real pain. The WWII generation is the last generation of Americans who actually had to sacrifice and understood true economic hardship. Their roots were in the great depression and they were hit with another wave during WWII. The current American psyche has a limited reference for economic pain so most believe the worst is over. They are all still caught up in the "Hope and Change" mantra.

There may be some positive news here and there however I simply do not see a recovery until mid-2010 at the earliest and believe our reference will be lowered in the next 6 months via rising unemployment, inflation and increased crime.

[depressed in 06]

I believe the market is responding to the coming inflation. It will stop when the market understands there is no future (i.e. profits) in a socialized economy.

[keats5]

I think the market is being manipulated, and the crash was due to manipulation, too.

Having said that, I know very little about the market. I just have the sense that there are some relatively unknown super powerful people pulling all our strings. I don’t know who they are, but I’m pretty sure they’re not interested in our prosperity or freedom. I’m still wondering if Obama is one of them, or if he’s also a puppet.

[cspackler]

If you are involved in B2B ventures such as I am on a daily basis, you would have noticed over the last month that things are starting to move again. We were as busy as we ever were at the end of last year, could not keep up. Then, everything came to an absolute dead stop in January. Nobody was moving, sitting on their budgets out of fear. Now, things have picked up dramatically since they now have to spend their budgets yet this year.

I realize that my market segment may be an anomaly, but that is absolutely what I am seeing. If we maintain this for another month or two, we will get everything back to prior levels and carry on.

[STONEWALLS]

pre-market futures are surging...up 120 points!

[P-Marlowe]

Because the dollar keeps going down. If a dollar becomes worth a nickel, then a dollar’s worth of stocks will become worth $20.

[ScottinVA]

The markets, along with consumer confidence, have gone up because the sheeple are complying with the order from on high to be cheerful.

[John123]

The market is just plain nuts in a bear market rally. There are so many things wrong with this rally, I wouldn’t know where to begin.

[snowrip]

It’s called “summer”.

The markets always go up, because consumer confidence goes up. People are on vacation, they’re spending more money, eating out more often, etc.

The sucker’s rally will end in the fall.

[paulycy]

Companies are still doing business with each other and so their individual stocks (predictors of the future) can go up and therefore the whole market can go up.

But we’re functioning on borrowed money and under increasingly non-capitalistic rules and so in the long run a great number of those currently optimistic stock values (predictions) will fall dramatically because the underlying debt and profit-hostile environment (such as punitive taxation) will undermine everything.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

The irrational belief that the worst is behind us.