What caused the stock market jump today?

[Drunken Irishman]

[Thrill]

1. Lowes earnings.

People fixing up their homes?

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Ha! I should have read Yahoo's front page better: Stocks jump on renewed optimism on housing, banks

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wall_street

That must be killing the GOP right now.

[Clio the Leo]

13. And the President said it's the housing numbers we need to watch...

.... because THAT'S how we'll know when the economy is getting better.

Now, that begs the question, did he say that because it's true? Or because he knew it was gonna be one of the first things to improve and he wanted us to THINK it was true?

Hmmmm.....

(he made this remark at his first press briefing btw)

[DrToast]

15. Watching housing starts...

That's one of the best leading indicators of the economy.

And the next release is tomorrow at 8:30 AM EST.

[Clio the Leo]

16. I'm all twitterpated! NT

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

14. And How.

[mbperrin]

11. Earnings were lousy, down nearly 22% from last year. "Less bad" is now

a reason to buy buy buy! Actually, stock pimps always find a reason to shout buy buy buy!

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/business/story/731121.html

Lowe's earnings fall 21.6%, beat estimates

Associated Press
Posted: Monday, May. 18, 2009
Lowe's Cos. Inc. said shoppers buying paints, plants and replacement parts in the first quarter helped the home-improvement chain beat Wall Street forecasts and prompted it to boost its full-year outlook.

The results sent the Mooresville-based company's shares higher Monday as the company said business was "less bad" in all regions of the country and that economic conditions may — slowly — be improving.

<snip>

For the three months that ended May 1, Lowe's said it earned $476 million, or 32 cents per share. That's down nearly 22 percent from the previous year's profit of $607 million, or 41 cents per share, but was well ahead of forecasts.

Sales dipped 2 percent to $11.83 billion from $12.01 billion.

<SNIP>

The nation's second-biggest home-improvement chain said consumers continued to stay away from bigger-ticket housing items as they tried to shore up their savings amid the recession. But shoppers did welcome spring with smaller, outdoor purchases and also bought supplies for easy do-it-yourself projects such as painting.





Lowe's shares rose $1.33, or 7.2 percent, to $19.78 in afternoon trading.

[Telly Savalas]

2. Key institutional investors got laid over the weekend.

[Drunken Irishman]

4. Lucky bastard.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Investors are starting to believe it when the President talks of a new foundation......

not made of sand?

[billyoc]

6. Housing permit applications were lower than new starts, that usually signifies a bottom.

[mckara]

7. The Markets Need Consolidation!

Once again, it's going up too far, too fast!

[a kennedy]

8. glenn beck doesn't think it has any thing to do with what the

administration has done.....it's the normal progression of cycles......IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS DONE!!!! He's so full of sh*t!!!!!!!!!

[JuniperLea]

9. This is the volatility I've been talking about since the crash...

It's going to go back and forth for a while until it settles on it's support. It's still deciding:)

Note: When you hear talking heads say the market is up or down for some reason or the other, they are lying. They don't know what the hell they are talking about.

The market was artificially inflated, much like the housing market. Both will fluctuate until they hit the real mark. That is all. Nothing more, nothing less.

The support level is probably near... 7900 to 8200 is my guess.

[Baby Snooks]

18. Still being manipulated...

There are quite a few doing quite well with the daily bullshit they put out in the hopes of fools buying into it and causing prices to rise significantly so they can sell at a nice profit.

People weren't buying Enron because they liked Ken Lay. They were buying Enron because all these "economic wizards" on Wall Street were telling them to. Some make a killing trading. Some make a killing with options. Others make a killing with the hedge funds. Some manage to make a killing with all three. The triathalon of Wall Street.

And not a thing has changed. People just think it has.

[thelordofhell]

10. Because Cthulhu said "Bull Market!! Ai!! Ai!!"

[Phx_Dem]

12. Obama playing chase with Bo on the front lawn.

Who doesn't love cute dogs?

[rug]

17. Somewhere on a guarded island a wrinkled man in a chateau surrounded by flamingos

arched his eyebrow.