Obama: 'Today...Marks the Beginning Of the End' of Crisis

President Obama just signed the $787 billion economic stimulus package bill into law, saying: "I don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems, nor does it constitute all of what we need to do to turn the economy around. But today does mark the beginning of the end."

It was interesting to watch the Dow Jones as Obama spoke. When he started, the Dow was down 256 points, near its intraday low. But as he spoke, it staged a mini-rally, climbing more than 30 points.

But then it turned back down -- it was probably coincidence that it dove steepest when Obama said the tax cuts in the stimulus package "are not just for the rich."

By the time he finished signing with numerous pens and said, "There we go. It's done," the Dow was back down to where it started when he began talking, down about 260 points. It continued edging down in the following minutes.

But then, within 10 minutes of Obama writing the last "a" in his name on the bill, the Dow shot back up in a real rally and, as of about 3:35 p.m. today, is down 195 points.

Obama signed the bill in Denver, and the ceremony featured Blake Jones, chief executive of a local solar energy company named Namaste, which is a Hindu greeting and also the greeting used by some of the more mysterious characters on the ABC drama, "Lost." Just sayin'.

-- Frank Ahrens
The Ticker is Twittering!