Market's up! The sky is the limit! Invest your life savings and...

[rfranklin]

become a millionaire! Is this great or what? I guess Wall Street was buoyed by the following--

Factory activity eases in March
Mon Apr 3, 2006 10:34 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. factory activity ran at a three-month low in March, as new orders fell and a gauge of inflation showed a pick-up, according to a survey on Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity fell to 55.2 in March from 56.7 in February, falling short of economists' forecasts for a rise to 57.9.

Regional manufacturing surveys have painted a more optimistic picture of the factory sector, so although the drop in the ISM index did catch some economists off-guard, it did not point to the start of a prolonged slowdown.

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-04-03T143528Z_01_N03342656_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-ECONOMY-MANUFACTURING-DC.XML

[DUHandle]

1. Don't beat yourself

over the change in the ISM.

[IsItJustMe]

2. I never could figure out Wall Street. Unemployment goes up, and so does

the market. It seems to be that Wall Street has no positive correlation with main street.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. More unemployed = cheaper labor = more profit margin

[gratuitous]

4. Let me help you figure it out

Now, see, I've got three cards here. Your goal is to find the red queen. I'll put the three cards down here on the box. Now, watch carefully as I move the cards around and around. Okay. Tell me which one of them is the red queen.

Ooooh, bad luck. Want to try again? Just another $20.

[LouisianaLiberal]

5. LOL.

Yes, the game is rigged, and three-card monte is a great analogy.