Oil Down, Stocks Up, Two in a Row

Do you remember when was the last time the Dow had two consecutive 200+ days?

I don’t, but that doesn’t matter because I am concerned about the stock markets now than historical performance.

After closing below 11,000 for the Dow for the first time in two year this Tuesday, the stock markets put together a nice rally in the past two trading sessions, gaining nearly 500 points for the Dow, 100 points for the NASDAQ, and 45 points for the S&P 500. What fueled the comeback were some better than expected financial numbers from banks such as Wells Fargo yesterday and JPMortgan Chase today. Another reason for the rally is that crude oil has fallen nearly $16 since last Friday to settle at $129.29 a barrel, below the $130 market for the first time in six weeks (maybe the stock market is indeed held hostage by the oil). Though the Dow is still down more than 2,718 from its peak, the 500-point gain is good enough to lift the index just out of the bear market territory.

However, the rally may be short-lived. After the closing of today’s trading, tech bell-weathers Microsoft and Google reported disappointing forecast and earnings. Despite the huge gain,  tough time is far from over.