Stock market moves off stage

It's strange at first to consider that after yesterday's bad employment figures in the US that the Dow Jones was up nearly 300 points. Especially given this, "Peter Morici of the University of Maryland told the Wall Street Journal, "This was much worse than expected and represents wholesale capitulation. The threat of a widespread depression is now real and present."

It merely reveals that the plunge since last year has now played itself out and shareholders think that all the unemployment that is being produced will lead to increased profits. Fewer workers mean less of a pay bill which means, in the short term, more profit. It won't last. The next crash will be early next year. The workers will carry on paying long after then.