After Holiday, Dow Romps Up Again

NEW YORK: Here's another good reason to ignore fluctuations in the stock market. Last week, the Dow lost 265 points in five days. Tuesday, it gains 257.36 to notch, at 3.4 percent, the biggest one-day percentage hike since a 4.6 percent gain in early 1991. What gives? TIME's Wall Street Columnist Dan Kadlec favors Occam's razor: the simplest explanation is the best. "All the big traders who weren't around at the end of last month, they've been out at the Hamptons all weekend thinking 'wait a minute, stocks are down 8 percent. When I get to the office on Tuesday, I'm going to buy.'" The real time to watch starts now, says Kadlec: "Tuesday was a phenomenon very common to holiday weekends. But September is historically the markets' worst month of the year. If the rally can stick out September, maybe it's for real." In other words, wait and see.