Even a Dead Cat Bounces

Over the last couple weeks we have seen the markets rise and rise. Huge jumps in the market like this can make even the dumbest investor look smart even without having any justification for entering the markets when they chose to do so. I'll admit that even I started to get convinced by the onslaught of positive articles and pundits screaming that we hit the bottom. It certainly helps when the government pledges a trillion dollars (unthinkable before this recession). Is it sustainable or are all of the people that enter tomorrow, after the best month in years (Dow up 8 percent) going to lose big in the coming months?

Is it a dead cat bounce?

What's that you might ask?

Well, even a dead cat bounces when it's dropped from high enough (and the markets peak was pretty dam high)

These graphs put together by Credit Suisse track the first 100 days after a major trough. The first graphs major recessions over the last 100 years. Notice what happened after the great depressions major trough...the markets bounced back but then fell again...I wonder what this recession will look like? 1929 or whatever the light blue line is (i can't tell what year it corresponds to)?