Buying Stocks at the End of the World

Well, they don’t make it easy for you.

Yesterday, the Dow rose 225 points. Enough to keep people guessing. Enough to keep people in the market. Enough to give the ‘recovery’ spotters something to look at and investors something to hope for.

Is the market really headed down…or not?

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Deciphering the VIX Index and the Rally in Overconfidence

Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!

Our little big bull market celebrated its one-year anniversary yesterday, albeit in tentative style. The Dow managed to eke out an 11-point gain, while the broader S&P 500 fared only slightly better. Investors, it appears, are awaiting the next catalyst to keep the momentum going. But are they running out of excuses to buy?

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Dow 10,300: Mimicking the Bounce After the Crash of ‘29

Let’s call it a victory. Despite spending most of yesterday’s trading session in the red, the Dow Jones Industrial Average staged a late-day rally to eke out a 42-point gain. Nevertheless, the selloff that started early last week has erased all of the Dow’s progress since November 9, 2009 – a day on which headlines gushed that the Group of 20 nations would continue to save the world by maintaining their economic stimulus efforts. Investors celebrated that news by rallying the Dow 203 points to 10,227 – a fresh 13-month high.

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