<p>Rally or bounce?? Can Washington get lenders to lend again or just buy other banks?</p>
<p>dead cats bounce</p>
<p>nothing is rational yet.</p>
<p>The consumer confidence stands at 38 and the Dow is up 10%? Irrational anti-exuberance or harsh reality that the world is collapsing? I’m tempted to sell something short.</p>
<p>I have been reminded that huge rallies are typical of a bear market and also typical is that these huge bear market rallies make people think the bear market is over.</p>
<p>But it isn’t.</p>
<p>I heard from another site that it was a short squeeze.</p>
<p>I think buying stocks at near modern times lows is pretty rational when the alternative is earning 2-3%. In under a year these prices will look very cheap. Will they go lower–maybe, but in the middle-term (6-18 mos) they will rally significantly. The economic fundamentals were still pretty solid when the finance crisis hit. This is a very narrow recession not due to bad products or declining markets. The finance market just needs to get its act together and get back to what they should be doing. Instead they are hoarding cash and looking for other companies to buy cheap with taxpayer money. It’s absolutely disgusting. DC needs to gome down on them with guns blazing. See Blodget for a good outraged analysis.</p>
<p>[JP</a> Morgan: Of Course We Won’t Use Bailout Money To Make Loans](<a href=“http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/10/jp-morgan-of-course-we-won-t-use-bailout-money-to-make-loans]JP”>JP Morgan: of Course We Won't Use Bailout Money to Make Loans)</p>
<p>“nothing is rational yet.”</p>
<p>And isn’t it ironic that we find ourselves in this predicament precisely because of irrational behavior.</p>
<p>I agree with the prior posters! (On the other hand, who can know what goes on in the mind of investors?)</p>
<p>Add computerization of trading and the fact that every sucker can buy stock (captured very well in the infamous E-Trade baby commercials) to the basket of things causing the markets’ bumpy ride.</p>
<p>barrons, excellent article. I posted another one in the Polical Forum which briefly mentions the fact that the White House has very few options to deal with banks hoarding the bailout (now their) money.</p>
<p>This is a dead cat bounce. Boomers in their late 50’s will unload like crazy when the dow gets to 10000. This is human behavior and it happens every bear market.</p>
<p>^what happens after a dead cat bounce/bear trap ?</p>
<p>What happens when people try to unload anything?</p>