By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 commentator.
Dallas, TX – Like a consciousness one has of being followed by a stray unfriendly dog, we have been ever so aware of Enron's presence. But as the market rallies, the distance is growing further between that stray dog and us. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
Last week, even as the congressional Enron hearings were being aired, the market began reacting to real economic data. Something we hadn't seen in quite some time. And as all that news was quickly evaluated as positive, the market reacted accordingly. The Dow Jones rallied and is continuing its upward momentum at a rocket pace. It almost seems like it is making up for lost time. J.P. Morgan Chase upgraded their recommendation for General Motors to a buy, the Asian markets soared, and European markets followed suit refueling today's rally.
The NASDAQ, which was virtually going in the opposite direction of the Dow because of technology, is also is showing some positive movement today, in spite of Oracle's warning on Friday.
This is not exactly like we've seen in the past. The market breaks and like a horse out of the gate before you know it, it's rallied to new highs. What makes this different - for months, we sat in a trading range unsure of any real direction. This is where we as investors kick ourselves for not getting in when we wanted to. It's important to know that indexes, the Dow, the NASDAQ, the S and P, usually move faster than its individual stocks. I actually heard one analyst today complain that the volume is lighter than he'd like for this rally to sustain itself. That was before today's opening.
On a side note here, I'm waiting for the analyst to now be criticized for not being more bullish on the market. That's the second time I've stuck up for the analysts. I need to check my pulse.
So maybe Enron was an aberration. In the meantime, the market can now be focused on actual data, and not what-ifs, maybes and whens. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 PM.