Stocks Soar On Big Fed Liquidity Injection

The market was up big at the open, then faded around midday, but regained its footing and rallied strongly into the close. The markets had their biggest percentage gains since October 2002. The S&P 500 surged +3.71% and the Nasdaq 100 gained +4.06%. Volume was also very strong, which is an encouraging sign.

Now before you ask, "Is this the bottom?", let me just say-- maybe. You never really know when the final bottom is made until after the fact. Yesterday the S&P 500 declined and retested its January lows. So today's bounce looks like a double-bottom formation. But follow-through is the key.

I have been saying that the markets were oversold, sentiment was highly bearish, and that any good news could send stocks soaring. That is exactly what happened today. I doubt this Fed news would have had the same impact if it came a few weeks ago.

So I think this strength could persist for awhile, but once the market gets overbought again, we will simply have to see if it again fades toward new lows, or if the recent lows hold. It is what it is.

Financials soared today, with the bank index +7.83%, and the broker index +7.29%. And I saw dozens of stocks on my screen up +6-12%. But traders have become accustomed to selling into any market strength, so we absolutely need to see strong follow through buying for this to hold.

The VIX fell -10.28% today, another good sign. And the dollar rallied, which is a nice change in response to recent Fed actions. At least the Fed is being more creative, and not simply relying on lowering the fed funds rate, which has been hurting the dollar and boosting commodities.

Oil touched $109 today, and I am hearing a lot of people calling for a near-term top in oil. This makes sense to me, and I might even consider shorting oil for a trade.

It's 81 and sunny here in LA, so I'd better go out and enjoy myself a bit. The markets have been depressing lately, so let's enjoy this moment.