David Fry's  Instablog

It's not like we're tip-toeing through the tulips lately since each day holds more fun and dangers. Wednesday's rally was brought to you by the following sponsors: the IMF suggesting "perhaps" Euro Zone bank bailouts wouldn't be as much as feared; a German court ruling suggesting the country's participation in bailouts was okay for now; a possible shake-up at Bank of America (BAC) which lifted oversold financials; firing of Yahoo's (YHOO) CEO which must evidently bode well for the future; and, more selling in gold meaning global risks have been greatly (cough) reduced.

U.S. stocks followed Europe and Asian markets sharply higher given the reasons cited in addition to an ongoing short squeeze begun late Tuesday. HFTs were out in full force but you won't hear talking heads complaining as stocks rise. Most of what I get out of this is retail investors, at least those away from captive holdings, have fled markets. The back-and-forth action we're seeing now is just hedge funds and other traders picking each other's pocket.