This huge gain we saw today is more proof of the market's current volatility. Even in a bear market (more losses than gains), steadiness is what keeps people from panicing.

A lot of analysts say this is proof that we've hit bottom and are going to start rising again, but a few people who've been in the stock market a long time (like Jim Cramer on CNBC) say it's better to ride it out until the market's had a few months to prove it's a bull again. He reasons that most bear markets have short-term bounces upward periodically allllllll the way down.

Besides, based on what I'm hearing about the economy itself (not the stock market), we're far from hitting the bottom of this crisis. This is going to be a long, hard winter.

Side not, has anyone gone grocery shopping lately? The prices are getting out of hand! For a five pound bag of potatoes, it was 4 bucks when I went today. I thought potatoes were the poor man's food...