NEW YORK Slam dunk or fakeout? Stock investors were trying todetermine which one they were seeing this past week as the marketstaged what could be the beginning of a sustained rebound.
But traders and analysts still paint a picture of an unusuallyconfusing and treacherous market - so perplexing that some won't evenventure a guess about Wall Street's future direction.
Some said Thursday's 53-point rise in the Dow Jones industrialaverage signaled the end of a correction that started in earlyFebruary and lopped more than 9 percent off the blue-chip index.Others said the bear market was just taking a breather.
On Thursday, the Dow recouped just a fraction of the 379-pointslide that began in early February, when the Federal Reserve began acampaign to aggressively fight inflation by raising short-terminterest rates. The Fed tightened for the third time on Monday,sending the Dow down 41 points.
But Thursday, bond prices shot up, interest rates fell andequity investors went on a buying spree, giving analysts some hopethat the downdraft may have ended.
The market treaded water Friday. The Dow eased 3.86 points toclose at 3,648.68, paring its loss for the week to 12.79.
Despite the anemic performance at week's end, there was enoughstability to give confidence to the market bulls. They reason thatprices have been battered so low that bargain-hunters should beginbuying in earnest and help lift stocks.
James Solloway, research director at Argus Research Corp., saidinvestors should have the confidence to buy because the economy andcorporate earnings are strong enough to weather the rise in interestrates.
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