Fed's "Wealth Effect" Creation Will Drive the Bull Market and Keep Bears at Bay

Stocks ripped higher at the start of the past week, then collapsed, revived and collapsed again. Yeah, it was an exciting few days. By the time it was all over bull and bears discovered they had fought to a tie that just barely favored buyers as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up .3% for the week, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was +0.1%, the Nasdaq Composite was +0.13% and the Russell 2000 small-caps were +0.3%. Concerns that insurrection would flow across North Africa to the oil-rich sultanates of the Middle East was the key concern, lifting crude oil by $4 and keeping prices in check. But straining to make a positive impact were upside surprises in U.S. and global manufacturing and services data, plus auto sales, same-store sales, initial unemployment claims and private payrolls data. A recovery is well under way, if only it could get out from under the geopolitical cloud. To read on about how the recovery will guide the markets, click here.