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Maybe the market needs a day of rest

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Today the market is closed for Good Friday. Maybe the market can use the day off.

The market is bipolar. Rising from stratospheric highs to crushing lows at the flick of a switch. Mind you, sometimes it takes a big event to turn the market on and off and sometimes it doesn't take much of anything. That's what makes the market so maddening to follow.

Bloomberg News argues that the market's reaction indicates that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's strategy of aggressive interest rate cuts is working since commodity prices had a huge sell-of this week.

"The Standard & Poor's 500 Index posted its first weekly gain in a month, and the dollar leapt from its lowest level since 1973 after the Fed stepped in March 16 to rescue Bear Stearns Cos. (NYSE: BSC), the fifth-largest U.S. securities firm, and expanded its role as lender of last resort to embrace the biggest dealers in Treasury notes," the news service reported. "The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities tumbled 8.3 percent this week, the most since at least 1956, after touching a record on Feb. 29."

But any rejoicing may be premature. Consumer confidence remains shaky amid continued worries about the real estate market. Applications for unemployment benefits soared to their highest level in nearly two months, according to the Associated Press. In short, there is plenty to worry about.

The trick for investors is not to panic and do anything rash. Markets aren't volatile forever and do eventually sort themselves out. Getting to that point may cause quite a lot of pain in the meantime.

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Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-46.7810,244.48
NASDAQ-5.732,161.17
S&P 500-5.911,092.60

Last updated: November 12, 2009: 12:55 PM

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