More manic swings ahead in irrational market

US stocks rose last week, paring losses on what had been the worst start to any year on record for the Standard & Poor's 500.

In a rational market, readings from the gross domestic product and durable goods orders due this week would help decide whether the rebound lasts. But markets can often be irrational and seldom have they been more irrational than this year.

One measure of how crazy markets have been in the first seven weeks of the year is the increasingly exasperated tone of strategists' commentary. Wall Street operators do not, as a rule, confess to bewilderment.