Gives me an excuse for my morning rant, lol.

A quick market primer for Rosie: The stock market and the economy are 2 different things. Markets peak when all is well with the economy and rally strongly during the worst point of recessions. And why is this, you ask? Because weak economies cause the Fed to generate easy money policies. This money finds its way into many asset classes such as gold, food, materials, housing, stocks and bonds.

The current bull market [sorry, your bear market rally] is stronger than most because one major asset class (housing) is unpopular, therefore pushing more money into remaining asset classes.

So here's the secret formula: Slow economic growth = strong stock market.