TSC Weekender: The Market's Histrionics

THE PULSE Where TSC feels the market's beat. MORE THE TRADER'S TONGUE JJC translates Street-speak. MORE

TSC Weekender took the past two weekends off and spent a week in the London office of TheStreet.co.uk, learning how to spell "criticise" and "flavour" properly. But we couldn't escape the Wall Street mentality. On the plane, a group of handsome young men gabbed about JDS Uniphase (JDSU). In the pubs, talk of the new equity culture buzzed around us. And in the basement of the British Museum, we stood next to an American calling his broker to trade as soon as the U.S. markets opened. Sure, the Rosetta Stone is great, but how often can you take advantage of a pop in Qwest (Q)?

Join a refreshed and rested TSC Weekender with another Idiot Box answer plus an index of past questions. We'll be expanding and adding to that every week. Humorist Eugene Finerman rejoins us with The Magna Chartist, an article that dares to ask, How can Michelangelo help us trade better? Plus, the personal finance focus on Saturday continues. Cheers.

The market had more mood swings this week than Valley of the Dolls.

Procter & Gamble saw the Tide turn Tuesday when it announced an earnings shortfall. As a result, the Dow went down the drain. Many analysts could have hung their heads in shame for having missed the warning signs, as the Dow experienced its fourth-worst point drop ever.

Thursday, the Nasdaq went in the other direction, hitting one of those artificial milestones that seem terrifically important until, well, they don't. Large-cap names in general and semiconductor and Internet issues in particular pumped the Nasdaq on Thursday. It spilled over and closed at 5046.86, up 3.05%. The Dow tagged along and finished up 154.20 points to close at 10,010.73, goosed by Hewlett-Packard (HWP).

As these things often do, the Hewlett-Packard affair turned sour on Friday, when the stock lost 3.3% of Thursday's advance and both the Dow and the Nasdaq struggled with blue moods. The Dow ended down 81.91, at 9928.82; the Nasdaq finished up 1.78 at 5048.64.

Monday it starts all over again.

Kayte VanScoy, special to TheStreet.com, contributed to this article.

"As I frenetically mash my refresh key each day while I watch my stocks, I've noticed that the spread between the bid and the ask is not constant," writes Peter Burke. "It's maddening when I'm in sell mode to watch the ask rise and the bid remain fixed when others are buying. How are the spreads determined? What, if anything, can I deduce by watching the behavior of the spreads during the trading day?" Remember that expression "What you don't know can't hurt you?" Well, this is one of those times... MORE Enter the Idiot Box, where all your pesky little questions will be treated with kind condescension. As your fifth-grade teacher used to say, everybody else wants to know the answer, too. Please do send your queries. Or visit our list of previously covered topics.

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