Uh-oh - stocks are up

You can almost hear the bozos who voted against the bailout say, "See, we told you - Wall Street isn't collapsing after all." Yeah, I realize it's crazy, but the more the market recovers today the less likely bailout opponents - Republican and Democrat - are likely to agree on a compromise. Too bad these folks are not paying attention to the credit markets, which are as tight as they've ever been in the post-World War II economy. The stock market "is the sideshow," Art Cashin, director of floor operations for UBS told CNBC. “The center ring in this circus is what’s happening in the credit market." Adding to the weirdness is the reason being cited for today's rally in stocks: A belief among investors that Congress will wind up passing a rescue plan after all. This optimism could be based on reports that the Senate will try to salvage a $700 billion financial-rescue package, with relatively little tweaking, as early as Wednesday. From Bloomberg:

"They're not going to totally revamp the bill," said Pete Davis, president of Davis Capital Investment Ideas in Washington, who spoke to House and Senate leaders yesterday. "They'll make some minor changes and pass it. This is all about political cover."

[CUT]

Senators say they have no choice but to revive the measure, which is designed to restore confidence in the nation's banking system. "We don't intend to leave here without the job being done," said Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, who said the senators may deal with the bill as early as tomorrow.

At last check, the Dow was up 263 points.