Economy slows; market celebrates?

The economic news this morning was bad. The rate of growth had slowed over the last period to below expectations as consumers preferred to save some of their money. Recovery again seemed to be stalling. Yet as I write the New York Stock Exchange is closing with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by nearly 200 points over yesterday. That's attributed to the latest good news from Europe regarding debt payments. It all makes you wonder what Wall Street actually invests in. It should definitely teach you not to take the stock market as any indicator of national economic health. Investors don't seem to be hurting from today's bad news. The rest of us suffer, or so we understand, when Wall Street suffers, but the reverse isn't necessarily the case. The stock market may not be the "Market," but it may give us a clue about the allegedly rational functioning of markets in general.