In last weekend’s blog the question remained, “Have we reached a bottom?” Well folks this week might of provided the answer. Despite yesterday’s sell-off,  all of the key indices posted impressive gains on the week. In fact, this week marked the best market performance in the past two months. A welcomed sight for all of the bulls out there. On the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) gained 4.32%, the Nasdaq (chart) +5.89%, the S&P 500 (chart) + 4.74% and the Russell 2000 (chart) +6.15%. Notwithstanding these inspiring gains, volatility remains quite high.

So now the question is, was this a technical bounce or is the fear, panic and the concern of a recession still in play? Well if you are reading the daily headlines and are listening to the plethora of pundits, we are not out of the woods yet. However, the markets seemingly liked what Chairman Bernanke had to say at today’s annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Mr. Bernanke indicated that the Federal Reserve is prepared to provide additional support should the economy really begin to stall, and in the same breath, he indicated that he expects growth to pick up in the second half.

I think for growth to pick up, consumers will have to regain the confidence they had earlier this year, which may not occur unless we get real job growth in this country. For that to take place we are going to need meaningful leadership and less politics out of Washington. Is that possible? I hope that our nation’s leaders are paying close attention to the most recent Presidential and Congressional approval ratings for Americans have had enough. Hopefully this will get them moving in an effective way.

Have a good weekend 🙂

~George