You have to look at the BIG Picture. You need to look at the WHOLE WAVE we are standing on, not just the surface ripples.

from The Wall Street Journal
March 23, 2009
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 498 points, or 6.8%, as investors welcomed details on the Treasury Department's plan to relieve banks of soured mortgage assets. Bank stocks raced higher on the news, with the financial sector of the S&P 500 gaining 18% on the day, pushing the broader index to a 7.1% gain. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 6.8%. Markets are at the highest levels in a month.
For more information, see: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123780326256912947.html#mod=djemalertMARKET

First, remember that the Dow Index is only 32 stocks:

Index Components: Dow Jones Industrial Average
Company Name
Symbol
Last
Change
% Change
Date
3m Co
MMM
48.30
-1.02
-2.07
3/24/2009
Alcoa Inc
AA
7.32
-0.08
-1.08
3/24/2009
American Express Company
AXP
13.90
-0.66
-4.53
3/24/2009
AT&T Inc.
T
26.33
-0.59
-2.19
3/24/2009
Bank of America Corporation
BAC
7.22
-0.58
-7.44
3/24/2009
Boeing Co.
BA
36.10
0.60
1.69
3/24/2009
Caterpillar Inc.
CAT
29.40
-0.23
-0.78
3/24/2009
Chevron Corp
CVX
68.97
-0.18
-0.26
3/24/2009
Citigroup, Inc.
C
3.01
-0.12
-3.83
3/24/2009
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
DD
22.76
0.43
1.93
3/24/2009
Exxon Mobil Corp
XOM
69.38
-1.15
-1.63
3/24/2009
General Electric Company
GE
10.41
-0.02
-0.19
3/24/2009
General Motors Corporation
GM
3.20
-0.15
-4.48
3/24/2009
Hewlett-Packard Co.
HPQ
30.62
-0.57
-1.83
3/24/2009
Intel Corporation
INTC
15.00
-0.52
-3.35
3/24/2009
International Business Machines
IBM
98.30
-0.41
-0.42
3/24/2009
Johnson & Johnson
JNJ
52.70
-0.53
-1.00
3/24/2009
JP Morgan & Chase & Co
JPM
26.40
-2.46
-8.52
3/24/2009
Kraft Foods Inc.
KFT
23.17
0.02
0.09
3/24/2009
McDonald's Corporation
MCD
53.56
-1.60
-2.90
3/24/2009
Merck & Co., Inc.
MRK
27.75
-0.23
-0.82
3/24/2009
Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
17.93
-0.40
-2.18
3/24/2009
Pfizer Inc
PFE
13.92
-0.10
-0.71
3/24/2009
The Coca-Cola Company
KO
44.02
-0.12
-0.27
3/24/2009
The Home Depot, Inc.
HD
22.95
-0.30
-1.29
3/24/2009
The Procter & Gamble Company
PG
47.07
-0.67
-1.40
3/24/2009
United Technologies Corporation
UTX
43.21
-0.27
-0.62
3/24/2009
Verizon Communications
VZ
30.51
-0.56
-1.80
3/24/2009
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
WMT
51.08
-0.40
-0.78
3/24/2009
Walt Disney Company (The) (Holding Company)
DIS
18.29
-0.63
-3.33
3/24/2009

Only Kraft Foods has been doing well on the index lately.

FD: If you want to watch the Dow Jones Index,
use this link to Google's Index Charting
http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=INDEXDJX:DJI

Play around with the data in terms of the time period....
You can Strench out the range to one year and see what this ride has been so far.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chdet=1237902348671&chddm=99314&q=INDEXDJX:.DJI&ntsp=0
You can Look out over the past five years and see what it was like to when the Dow Jones was just as FLAT between 10,000 and 11,000.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chdet=1237902494984&chddm=495788&q=INDEXDJX:.DJI&ntsp=0 I

If you set it for TEN years you can see dramatically

how deep a hole we are in today. It looks like a cliff.

However, that was the FALL we seem to be at the bottom

with no where to go but UP.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chdet=1237902735640&chddm=1002524&q=INDEXDJX:.DJI&ntsp=0


As you expand the range the peaks and valleys take on new prospectives.
Here is the chart at it's maximum range, Folks.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chdet=1237901776437&chddm=3981944&q=INDEXDJX:.DJI&ntsp=0