My theory on why the stock market is up: Companies can be profitable with relatively far fewer people. To make MORE money, they have to hire more. They won’t do that until they’re turning away business if they don’t.
Yes, this is a normal cycle of profit AFTER layoffs. The
companies get to hire when the cycle is over, sometime in
summer of 2012, and pay lower wages if they can grow again.
The banks however are artificially high as they are NOT foreclosing on all of the properties
they can because of changes in mark-to-market rules, particularly the changes in April 2009.