"The technical backdrop has taken a distinctly bullish turn," says Michael Ashbaugh in MarketWatch's The Technical Indicator. Here, he looks at the market averages and a trio of stock ideas.

"Perhaps most obviously, the S&P has staged a 10-to-1 rally, and a 28-to-1 spike, from its 200-day moving average. And by any measure, this raises a bullish technical flag.

"With a gravity-defying rally, the S&P extended its gains, clearing resistance at 930 last Thursday. From current levels, significant resistance holds at the 2009 closing high of 946 while initial support rests at 930.

"Meanwhile, the Dow's near-term view is similar. With this week's rally, it's staged a 'V'-shaped reversal, breaking to one-month highs. Looking ahead, significant resistance holds at 8,799 - matching the 2009 closing high - while support rests at 8,580, matching the breakout point.

"Despite what you hear, things are looking better," say Mary Anne and Pamela Aden. In The Aden Forecast, they explain why they're "starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel," and suggest a play on the Dow Industrial Diamonds Trust(NYSE: DIA) for broad market exposure.

The Adens state, "For now, the news remains bleak, the economy is getting worse and unemployment is becoming a huge problem. People are extremely pessimistic. However, we're actually feeling more optimistic than we have in months.

"In the wake of the worst sell-off since 9/11 for most major European and Asian markets, our Fed finally stopped telling us that the building is on fire and entered the building to rescue what it can with an emergency 75 basis point rate cut," notes Jim Lowell.

The editor of Fidelity Investor explains, "The uppshot is that while the rate cut comes too late to cure what's ailing the markets, it does come as a welcome bowl of chicken soup which will help re-nourish the markets over time; look for more bowls of soup (in the form of more rate cuts) to come."

Lowell continues, "For long-term investors like us, time is on our side. After today's sell off, the standard value indicator for whether the markets are over- or under-valued continues to make the case for stocks being the best long-term buy.

"The P/E on the S&P 500 is hovering around 13 – it was north of 16 just a month back; but even a P/E of 16 is a value call. Bonds of every type and duration, on the other hand, are selling at historically high prices and yielding a
paltry sum. Meantime,

"the US dollar, dinged in knee-jerk reaction to today's Fed rate cut, is likely to gain strength as we wend our way through the next several months since the reality of recession is no longer a US but now a global phenomenon and that bell will toll for foreign currencies.

"Against this backdrop, the dollar will be a solid buy for near-term volatility, bonds will trade on the psychology of fear and uncertainty and US stocks will be the best value for long-term money."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.