Ghoulies and Ghosties

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

--Old Scottish Prayer

The cheerleaders are proclaiming we have visited The Bottom. Dark as a Texas canyon at midnight, it was scary; full of bears and ferocious short-selling beasts. They are glad we have finally left it behind to enter the green pastures where bulls placidly graze. Now, after the shock of the last few weeks which triggered the sell-off they have been waiting for, we can resume the Bull Market, although they admit there might be a few bumps on the way. As evidence, they point to today's NAPM Index for September, which is up, although still in negative territory.

Stock markets, we are told repeatedly, start to recover about 6 months before the economy does, and since the recovery will start in the first quarter of next year, it is time for the market to rally. (If I see that @*%$# Schwab commercial one more time telling investors to "First, take a deep breath.......")

Yardeni, while lowering earnings estimates tells us: "Based on my recent conversations with portfolio managers, I believe there is…