Market's big day may be a quick bounce

The news has been so relentlessly bad that all it takes is a small break in the clouds to cheer up investors. That appears to be the case with today's rally. A few minutes before the close, the Dow was up 260 points, at 12,389. But that only brings things back to last week, before the terrible employment numbers came out. What's more, nothing of real significance happened today, other than some marginally hopeful comments from Europe. Traders aren't about to bet the farm on a longer-lasting run-up and yet they can't be too bearish because any positive development in the debt crisis could get stocks surging again. Barron's stock writer Michael Santoli has a good take on today's session.

*Dow closed up 286 points.