Two Forty

The DOW gained 235 and S&P gained 26 today.

I can't believe this is going to hold for all that long.

Allegedly the good news besides Lowe's results and BoA's improved status was that consumer spending is stronger than expected.

This is like someone with a habit they want to kick but sometimes they can't help but indulge. People stopped buying because their investments were down and their fears were up. Eventually a trip to the mall was inevitable. You can take the money out of the consumer but you can't take the consumer out of the mall - sorry that doesn't make any sense.

This excludes millions who were laid off and who may very well be sinking.

How does this all work out? If ten percent of the population is unemployed and wants to be employed, don't the employed people have to spend more in order to cover the retail losses of those unemployed. The employed population would actually have to spend more in order to get the mechanism up to pre-recession heights.

Um, that's not going to happen...

I do not trust this rally. I still would prefer to see small gains and small losses thank you very much.

Reuters: Wall Street gains as Lowe's lifts mood

CNN: Stocks get high on Lowe's