It's Really Looking Like The Bull Market Is Back

Commodities got absolutely hammered. Stocks had two really notable down days, especially last Monday when the Dow shed over 200 points.

People were constructing these arguments along the lines of: Chinese growth is flagging. Europe is in a tailspin. And the US is just starting to feel its sequester-induced slowdown.

This week has a totally different vibe.

Now the story is about: The US is still looks okay (relative to the world), Europe may start to ease up on austerity. And China, well, maybe it's still doing badly.

And that change is reflected in the stock market, where the Nikkei just broke to a new five-year high.

European markets are shrugging off bad news left and right. In fact, Europe had one of its best days in ages yesterday, after a bad report from Germany on manufacturing.

Today the German Ifo business climate index (a survey) also missed expectations, and yet stocks are rallying.

Last week's chill wind is gone for now.