The 5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street: May 9

2. Our Fearless Leaders

If it wants to help the financial markets, the Bush administration may want to stop making public pronouncements about how healthy they are.

This week, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson inspired confidence by proclaiming in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that "the worst is likely to be behind us" in Wall Street's credit crisis.

"There's no doubt that things feel better today, by a lot, than they did in March," Paulson said, pointing to the Federal Reserve's decision to rescue Bear Stearns and to provide liquidity to other investment banks as "an inflection point" for the markets.

Paulson did concede that there will be "bumps along the road," and the market confirmed this shortly after the interview's publication. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 200 points.

Hopefully, the selloff was short-lived, but the response to Paulson's optimism was remindful of the Bush administration's classic performance back on Aug. 8, 2007, at the outbreak of the credit crisis.

With his economic advisers gathered soberly around him, President Bush said the turmoil in the housing sector would end with a ''soft landing'' and would not damage the larger economy.

''I believe that markets ultimately look at the fundamentals of any economy,'' said Bush. ''And the fundamentals of our economy are strong. Inflation is down. Real wages are increasing. The job market is a strong job market. People are working. Small businesses are flourishing."

The Dow shed 387 points that day.

Dumb-o-meter score: 91. Does Wall Street have the makings of a new contrarian indicator here?