it's always intriguing to try to explain the market (and no doubt its fruitless), but i'm guessing:Anyone know why the big jump today?
1) UBS write-down of $19B
2) Deutsche Bank write-down of $4B
3) manufacturing down (ISM)
4) construction spending down
no doubt these sound negative, but:
#1 and #2 removes some uncertainty about how much crap was on the balance sheet (markets don't like uncertainty) and write-downs are the first steps to getting back on track
#3 & #4 while down, both were better than had been expected.
lastly
5) Lehman Bros. raised $4B in new captial, and UBS has plans to do so.
The markets seem supportive of this, and that is a good sign (again removing some uncertainty)