Stocks EXPLODE in HUGH (that's right, HUGH!!) RALLY on news of..... absolutely nothing!

[Political Heretic]

I understand how the market works, technically speaking.

But I swear, some days the fact that so much of our broader economy is tied into the irrational gambling of a bunch of buffoons on Wall Street makes me KA-WAAAY-ZEEE!! :crazy:

[underpants]

1. As my economics professor said when I was in school

if the Fed drops the prime rate the market can go up, down, or stay the same-there is no telling

[leftstreet]

2. LOL The funny thing is they always clap when the bell closes

No matter if it's up or down, there's always a happy cheerleading section.

Whatever.

[marketcrazy1]

I think todays market mover was Bernake

he told congress the bank "stress test" was not pass or fail. said more capitol would go to banks and would not dilute share holders unless losses were large enough to warrant a conversion to common. this is good news for banks and they rallied pretty strong. combined with the successful treasury auction today with an oversold market plus recommendations to close short positions all came together to create a rally which, barring AWFUL news should last a few days.....

[jmowreader]

They're just glad to be able to go home that night

[GA_ArmyVet]

3. I so agree with you

sadly they also seem to plummet on exactly the same kind of Non-news

[Political Heretic]

4. Bernake - maybe we'll be out of recession in 09.... OMG BUY BUY BUY!!111!

Lunacy I tell you.

[anonymous171]

24. These Wall Street parasites are something else. nt

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

5. H-U-G-E!

n/t

[Political Heretic]

6. no, HUGH!!! dammit.

You can't have 1000+ posts and not know the reference :)

[NMDemDist2]

14. not everyone is aware of our handy DU Glossary

(pssst--Hey Newbies--we keep it in the Research forum)

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

22. Sorry, my red-pen hat

is always on!

[babylonsister]

7. Some sources are giving Bernanke credit-me, not so much.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/02/23/daily22.html

Upbeat Bernanke forecast drives up Dow


The stock market on Tuesday regained most of the ground it lost Monday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave an optimistic economic forecast Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished the trading day at 7,350.94, up 236.16 points (3.32 percent). The S&P 500 closed at 773.14, up 29.81 (4.01 percent), and the NASDAQ Composite closed at 1,441.83, up 54.11 (3.90 percent).

Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday that the recession might end by the close of 2009 if the federal economic stimulus package has the desired effect. President Barack Obama signed the package into law Feb. 17 in Denver.

[Political Heretic]

9. No that's totally what it was (I think) which makes me even more crazy.

Bernanke... uh.. heh... I am uh... supposed to talk positive and shit so um.... well hell, why don't I just say maybe we'll be out of a recession in 2009. I mean fuck it, it could happen what the fuck do I know?


Wall Street: OMGIAMGOINGTOCUMIAMGOINGTOCUMIAMGOINGTOCUMIAMETC....


Bernake has NO FUCKING CLUE about when the recession is going to end, and nothing to base his prediction on. Not a damn thing. But hell, let's all blow our buy loads so that we can puss out and mass sell tomorrow! YAY!!

[neverforget]

21. LOL! that about sums it all up!

:rofl: OMGIAMGOINGTOCUM :rofl:

Personally, i think it's more of a circlejerk

[tridim]

8. But if you have inside information you can make tons of money on days like this

Which I have to assume is exactly what happened today.

[Political Heretic]

12. Hmm.... that's a great point admist all my sarcastic ranting. Thanks

:toast:

[Jackpine Radical]

10. When ya come right down to it, the market has no business fluctuating wildly

on the basis of every passing news story anyway. A company has value based on its assets and its potential for using those assets to make more money. While major trends certainly affect the ability of a given company to make money, not every ephemeral little news story has major impact on a business's prospects. These people remind me of neurotic hens, frantically flapping their wings, clucking excitedly and racing around the chickenyard as they mistake the shadow of each passing cloud for an approaching hawk.

[Political Heretic]

13. Except that unlike 30 years ago, the bulk of the market is built on speculation NOT investment

[Jackpine Radical]

17. Yeah. I know.

The whole thing is a house of cards awaiting a puff of wind. When you look at P/E ratios, etc., you can see the Dow should probably be at about $6k. All else is illusion. And when it falls, it will go probably to $3K as people freak out.

[Political Heretic]

19. IF we survive this.... it could be good for us long term

But I'm extremely scared about the conditions for the poor and near-poor in the short term, as well as the possibility that we might not survive this (as an in-tact economy I mean).

[Jackpine Radical]

23. This is a time that calls for much more dramatic changes than happened in

the Great Depression--although the GD itself had some long-term positive effects. It was then that we electified, built our first decent roads, reforested after the great logging era, etc. And of course there were the things like Social Security that were created then.

This time the tasks are much more gargantuan. We need to come out of this one with a green economy, or there will be no more chances.

[KoKo]

30. True...and we are all SUCKERS in our 401-K's and IRA's that we got Sold down River of No Return!

:-( But, we were forced into them by our employers...in lieu of Pensions we could count on.

That's how it went down...

[Mike 03]

11. You speak the truth.

Todays like today scare the hell out of me, beacause there was no good news.

[pokercat999]

16. Ah ha, it was a day WITHOUT bad news....buy, buy , buy...nt

[Double T]

15. Sounds like financial and economic insanity to me.

Bernanke's speech must have gotten investor's endorphins flowing. Meanwhile the rest of US must deal with the GD reality these corrupt criminals have buried US in.

[rug]

18. The answer is somewhere in this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=8543778

[tridim]

20. I knew it was all the cat's fault.

[stillcool]

25. There must have been a massive lay-off somewhere

[JNelson6563]

26. Bernanke was optimistic

and I think might've suggested the worse may be over. Plus, believe it or not, there's a lot of cash on the sidelines. This is bargain huntin' season baby!

Julie

[TheWatcher]

28. Bernanke was talking out of his backside.

His spew was based on a speculative recovery that he has absolutely no basis or substance for forecasting.

They might as well give us all Free Lottery Tickets.

As I said earlier today, this is nothing but a Shell Game.

And the Marks are US.

[TheWatcher]

27. The Propaganda today was very thick indeed, and had to be revised by the Media 3 different times

In order to get the desired effect.

It's nice to see not everybody is buying it, because it was a rally based on total Bullshit.

Currently there are three different versions of Bernanke's Testimony:

First it was Continued decline this year, maybe a recovery in 2010

Then the story was The Recession, or "Severe Contraction" as Helo Ben called it, could be over by the end of the year, but he cautioned that would depend on a lot of what results came out of Fed Action and other factors (Translation: We're going to keep throwing more Fake Stimulus, Bailouts, Schemes, Programs that we retract five days later, Innuendo, and Happy Talk that numbs the Public into submission, so they go watch TV like good little Citizens and don't pay attention)

THEN the Story was there was a "Reasonable Chance" of the Recession to end this year, with a Recovery in 2010.

The Actual Testimony?

It will take 2 or 3 years to recover and the Bloomberg story was Fed Chief says we could begin to recover in 2010.

The Power Of Bullshit is all this was.

And with Obama speaking about the economy next, they are hoping for a Double Shot Of Espresso BS to goose the Markets more tomorrow.

This isn't Problem Solving.

It's PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT. They can't actually fix anything, so they have to make the Public think that the pile of dog shit in front of them is Actually Godiva Chocolate.

They know there is nothing they can do but continue to delay the inevitable, so the Markets now move on Psychology, Spin, and Propaganda.

Last Week it was "The White House BELIEVES" and this week is Helo Ben's "Reasonable Chance."

There is a "Reasonable Chance" any of us could win the Lottery on any Given day.

I keep wondering where this Recovery within six months is going to come from.

The manufacturing base in this country is all but gone, and we aren't going to achieve Bubble Level Fake Prosperity again with Deteriorating Wages and A Service Economy Wasteland.

The Banking System is all but insolvent, and Citi and BAC's Nationalization prospects continue to creep from "If" to "When".

With the rest of the Globe Collapsing as well, it is becoming increasingly puzzling to figure out how reality fits in with the Spin.

We cannot print our way out of this. We cannot Bailout our way out of this.

And since those who hold the strings of power stand to survive and even thrive no matter what happens to the rest of us, their happy talk and delusional forecasting smacks of something akin to pacification and incremental euthanization of the herd.

Maybe they are hoping we just won't notice, and will go quietly.

Ask Iceland's recently fallen Government how that worked out for them.

[KoKo]

32. Every three days or so Up 250 points and Down 250 Points...seems they

are working for a consensus as we spiral down in those drops. :shrug: Traders and Losers...that's what this whole "MARKET" is All ABOUT!

[TheWatcher]

34. It's A Price Setting and Price Adjustment Mechanism more than it is A Market.

A Rigged Casino that has no basis in Economic Reality, at least any more.

They did what they had to do today, because things have been deteriorating too fast, and too much of the Public is starting to pay attention that something is very, very wrong, and that Gun-To-The-Head Legislation isn't going to solve it. From EITHER Party.

Whenever there is Critical Mass of Public Awareness combined with Critical Technical Support, the Spin Machine Cranks up, someone spews something that The Public wants to hear, and the Electronic Black Boxes with Permanently Glued Down F12 Keys Light Up the Scoreboard.

The most Fake, Artificial, Bubble Of Prosperity ever Built has collapsed, and now they are scrambling to figure out how to stop it.

They more than likely cannot, and so we have this Circus Of Bullshit that we are now treated to almost daily.

it kind of reminds me of something Malloy said a few years ago. The Context of his statement was completely different, but it definitely applies here, if you think about it.

"What are they going to do? They are going to have to pull something out of their Magic Playbook, since they can't GOVERN."

Maybe the next Bailout will work.

Or the next.

Or the next.

"Thank God They All Passed!" :eyes:

[ecstatic]

29. it's crazy. That's why I always resist the urge to invest

Too many idiots.

[malaise]

31. Can't help but wonder if they aren't manipulating them

with a plan for tomorrow

[KoKo]

33. Well....folks have posted for YEARS about the PPT (Plunge Protection Team)

...and some of us thought we lost it back in October. But, if Ben Bernanke's dry Greenspin Speak can move the losing market by up 250 points...maybe the "PPT" has another breath of life in it. :-(