Dow's 2nd Best Day Ever - Sort Of... They Claim

After a month of financial collapses and 25% of the stock market value vanishing, the media is touting a "comeback" based on the sixth best day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The headlines say 2nd best because of the dollar amount, but in reality it's the 6th best by percentage. Percentage counts more because inflation distorts the dollar amount over the past 100+ years.

Within minutes of the opening bell this morning, I was reading media reports about how there was new confidence in the stock market and that things were looking up. As my son would say, "WTF?" It isn't the opening that counts it's where the market ends up at the end of the day.

Somehow I think while it is the media printing this, the words come from the government trying to stem the rushing waters of financial collapse.

They point out that the 888 point gain follows a 936 point gain two weeks ago. Sounds great right? "Oooh, the market must be up almost 1,800 over two weeks ago, right?"

Beeep! Wrong Answer Clyde. Three steps backwards followed by two steps forward still equals going in reverse. In the past few weeks, it'll make a climb, then slip over a few days, make a climb, etc. not really gaining any ground.

Even with today's climb, the DJIA is STILL down 500 over the "big jump" of two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, the DJIA went from about 8,500 to just under 9,500. Today it went from 8,200 to just above 9,000.

I'm hoping that things will level out but this still looks remarkably like the events leading up to the crash of '29.

CNNMoney.com Market Report - Oct. 28, 2008: "Dow's 2nd best day ever
The Dow jumps as much as 906 points as investors use 5-year lows as an opportunity to get back into stocks.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Dow rallied as much as 906 points during Tuesday's session, as investors dove back into stocks near the end of one of the worst months in Wall Street history.

According to early tallies, the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 888 points after having risen as much as 906 points earlier. It was the Dow's second-biggest one-day point gain ever, following a 936-point rally two weeks ago. The advance of 10.9% was the sixth-biggest ever.

Stocks ended Monday's session at the worst levels in more than five years, with the major gauges off over 25% in October alone. Global markets have fallen too, as investors worldwide have sought to pull money out of stocks amid the credit crisis and weak economy."

(Via CNN Market Report.)

Technorati Tags:
Economy, Financial