Big day for stocks - Dow up 330

That's a nearly 3 percent gain, to 11,433. Much of the activity came on talk of a possible bank recapitalization plan in Europe. But WSJ's Paul Vineyard points out that three years ago on Columbus Day the market also took off in hopes that the worst of the U.S. credit crisis was over. Er, didn't quite work out that way. Truth is, it's next to impossible to sort out what's really happening in Europe; investors have been trading on up-and-down headlines, which is one reason the markets have been so volatile. From the WSJ:

Head-snapping volatility, both steep drops and sharp gains, most often comes in times of market trouble. It suggests that, despite the bounce last week, the market isn't healthy, says economic historian Richard Sylla of New York University's Stern School of Business. "Financial markets become more volatile in periods of stress. People don't know which way things are going to go, so you get these big up and down movements as people pile in and get out," he says.