We'll give a prize to the first person who comes up with a good reason for the Dow to be up more than 200 points today.
Okay, we're not going to give you a prize; not even a big blue ribbon. But we are interested in your opinion, because there's no obvious trigger for today's big rally.
The Dow is up 200 points, the S&P 500's up 22, and the Nasdaq Comp's up 59. Sure, Apple's rebounding today. But its fall yesterday didn't do anything to the Dow.
It does seem like there's some kind of technical bounce involved here. The S&P 500 climbed back above its 50-day moving average this morning; that could have triggered some buying.
But see if you can make these add up to 200:
Pros:
- Spain auctions off more short-term debt than expected.
- Goldman's earnings beat expectations.
- The IMF said it doesn't feel the need to monitor Italy's finances anymore.
- Coke's earnings were up 8%.
Cons:
- Spain had to pay through the nose to sell its debt.
- Goldman's earnings were down from a year ago.
- The IMF said Italy will miss its deficit targets in 2012 and 2013.
- Housing starts came in far worse than expected.
- Industrial production was flat for a second straight month.
Those things don't add up to a 200-point rally to us, but maybe there's something we're missing. Or maybe it really is that weird tax-day rally thing.
Keep in mind, too, we'll get a number of high-profile earnings after the bell: IBM , Intel , Yahoo and CSX. Won't make a difference for this rally, but it will add more color to the earnings story, and by extension the economy story.
AI
