Avoiding the Obvious Global Slowdown, Stocks Ramp Higher to End Week

With the nation focused on the manhunt in the Boston bombings, Wall Street types took the opportunity to bid up prices on risk assets, which is really all they know how to do.

Despite the best efforts of the insiders trading against each other and hoping with all their hearts to lure retail suckers into the market, the major indices still ended the week with losses.

For the week, the Dow lost 318 points, and was held in check today by IBM, as Big Blue missed earning and revenue estimates and was down 8% in heavy trading.

The NASDAQ lost 88 points through the week; the S&P 500 dropped 33.

The G20 meeting in Washington was nothing more than the usual gap-fest, with nothing of importance coming out of the fete.

Boston continues to be locked down as infantile efforts by our nation's security forces try to catch a lone 19-year-old kid accused of committing - with his now-dead-brother - the Boston bomb attacks.

The wall-to-wall coverage of this non-event has allowed CNBC and Bloomberg talking heads to sidestep the issue of the rapid deterioration of the US economy.

Stay tuned for further non-developments.

Dow 14,547.51, +10.37 (0.07%)
NASDAQ 3,206.06, +39.70 (1.25%)
S&P 500 1,555.25, +13.64 (0.88%)
NYSE Composite 8,994.12, +72.94 (0.82%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,710,872,500
NYSE Volume 3,876,484,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4538-1852
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 213-68
WTI crude oil: 88.01, +0.28
Gold: 1,395.60, +3.10
Silver: 22.96, -0.285