Thank the Federal Reserve. The central bank has embarked on its program of "quantitative easing," a second round of experimental monetary policy in which the Fed buys up assets - like longer term government bonds - to bring down interest rates, which is supposed to spur lending and borrowing, thus reigniting the economy.

Nobody knows whether it will work to bring down the intractable rate of unemployment. But it has already worked in one significant way: the speculative juices of the markets are flowing.

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