What a Week: Bear Rout

If last Friday's jobs report lent credibility to the bulls, this week's retail sales and inflation data sealed the deal. The bears are on the run.

The turnkey for the attitude adjustment was the bond market losing faith in its bets on rate cuts and recession. Through much of autumn, the Treasury market's conviction that rate cuts were coming left a blemish on many investors' and economists' bullish outlook.

The onus seemed on the soft-landing optimists to prove the weakness in autos, housing and manufacturing would not spill over into the rest of the economy. The burden of proof has shifted to the bears, and they are having a harder time showing that growth is weak, and that housing could still do widespread damage. For now, Goldilocks is in the house and sitting at the table. ...