It was looking dismal as the day wound down, but a late story that China was interested in buying Italian bonds brought in some buyers, squeezed some shorts and kick-started the machines.
Despite a big spike in the last few minutes, plenty of stocks still weren’t included in the computer algorithms, but the mood did improve on an otherwise dreary day.
The day started a bit oversold, which helped to produce a quick bounce after the gap-down open. That faded fast and we eventually hit a new low for the day in the early afternoon. But the bears were getting a little fat and lazy and it just took one decent, but questionable, news headline to put up a spike.
