NEW YORK: The air on Wall Street got a little too rare for traders Friday as the Dow ended a seven-session, 600-point winning streak with an 80-point loss. The sell-off is a tip that the markets' recent comeback may prove illusory. "It's certainly not as great as it looks," says TIME Wall Street columnist Daniel Kadlec. "Rallies like this often live within a larger bear market, and a lot of the small stocks haven't had the recovery that the blue-chips have."
What to watch: How low the Dow goes next time it slumps. "If it dips below the last low, around 7,500, then this rally was nothing to be excited about. But if it locks in these gains, we'll know that Greenspan's rate cuts -- and the prospect of more cuts to come -- have had a real effect." So on Monday, look both ways before crossing; no one's sure right now which way this thing is going.