OK, if any of you can figure this out let me know. I put up a post a couple down from this one that noted bankruptcies, plant closings and layoffs from some of the industrial titans of the world. At the same time, there’s an article in the WSJ that says that some pretty smart guys are starting to put money back into the energy industry, the equity markets have rallied and the credit markets are shaking about a little bit. Is it the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning or is the light at the end of the tunnel that some of these guys see a train or real sunshine? I have no clue.

According to the Wall Street Journal some guys that know the energy business have started putting down some fairly large markers on that sector. I don’t know about you, but when the folks that have dirt under their fingernails start putting their money to work, I take notice.

The equity markets are up around 20% or so from their lows and seem to be shaking off bad news. Their is a lot of money sitting around waiting for opportunity so this may be a false signal and Lord knows a lot of that money is dumb and advised by dumber people but still and all, it can’t all be misguided.

And as Jansen pointed out yesterday in Across the Curve the credit markets opened with a decisive move towards risk. I tend to trust this market a bit more and think it might be telling us that we went too far in a quest for safety.

I’ll end like I started. If any of you have a clue let me know. The signals are mixed but isn’t that an improvement? After all, all we have had for about three months are negative signals. I’m not too sure I want to venture out of the cave but a few people seem to be and that might be a signal I shouldn’t ignore.