All eyes on Fed meeting and T-bill markets

US STOCKS surged last week, and major indexes followed their worst week in years with their biggest weekly gains since 2013 as the meltdown ended and the melt-up resumed.

This week, bulls hope that the momentum-driven madness wears off, while bears warn that more swings are likely. The trigger for buying or selling could be the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes and any reaction in Treasury markets.

The broad Standard & Poor's 500 rose more than 4 per cent last week, cutting its losses to about 5 per cent from its record high after undergoing a correction of more than 10 per cent.

Still, the manner in which it did so - with five straight advances that masked vicious intraday swings - gave some strategists pause. "It's almost defying the statistics involved normally," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. "Historically, you will try to retest the lowe…