Stocks Higher Despite Slower Economy

Editor's Note: Due to a scheduling conflict, the normal posting of Money Daily will be delayed until about 8:30-9:00 pm EDT this evening.

Stocks are in the midst of a strong rally Wednesday afternoon, despite a sharp, downward revision to first quarter GDP - to 1.8% - from 2.4% reported a month ago by the Commerce Department.

That bit of discouraging news meant nothing to Wall Street stock pickers, who only see higher prices and speculative gains in the face of the downdraft from the past two weeks.

With the second quarter coming to a close this Friday and a new June employment report out next Friday, this appears to be a case of getting in while the getting is good. Gains may be short-lived, though the "bad news is good" crowd, who thinks that slower economic growth will forestall the slowing of asset purchases by Chairman Ben Bernanke and his merry gang of bond-buyers.

More to follow...

Update: Turned out to by a typical low-volume ramp with a huge gap at the open. Whether the fraudsters-in-chiefs can manufacture another 90 Dow points by Friday - to get that index back over the magic 15,000 mark - is still in doubt.

Anyone still bullish knows that chartists will take everyone to task if the market doesn't make new highs from here, so resolution on a primary trend should be played out within the next seven to ten trading days.

If this recent, minor downdraft turns out to be garden variety for the "Fed" era, it's up, up and away, but stocks will be valued for perfection. It is still difficult to see how the status quo can continue to maintain smug certainty about equity values in the long run.

Dow 14,910.14, +149.83 (1.02%)
NASDAQ 3,376.22, +28.34 (0.85%)
S&P 500 1,603.26, +15.23 (0.96%)
NYSE Composite 9,067.27, +78.00 (0.87%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,641,171,250
NYSE Volume 3,983,478,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4360-2148
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 160-100
WTI crude oil: 95.50, +0.18
Gold: 1,229.80, -43.30
Silver: 18.59, -0.939