FUNNY SORT OF HOOVERVILLE:

Dow Jones surges to all-time high as sub-prime fears ease (Stephen Foley, 19 April 2007, Independent)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the most visible measure of the American stock market and a potent symbol of the perceived health of the US economy, has surged to a new all-time high.

The index settled last night at 12,803.84, a 31-point gain on a day when heavyweight banking stocks were in favour. Companies such as JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, some of the biggest financial institutions in the US, have been under the cloud of a fading housing market for the past six weeks, but investors believed yesterday they could contain any economic fallout from rising arrears among lower-income homeowners.

The Dow's rebound took it above the previous all-time high, set on 20 February, of 12,786.64. By last week, it had clawed back all of the ground lost during the bout of stock market turmoil in the last days of February and early March, when fears of recession in the US and overheating equity prices in Asia sent shares into a dive. The Dow lost more than 400 points on 27 February, its worst fall since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.