Most major stock market indexes continued their decline in April as the pre-announcements (confessionals) and announcements disseminated to investors by public corporations depicted at best, a muted profit recovery by many corporations.

For some reason in mid April most major stock market indexes rose off their lows for about a week only to succumb to the bears continuing their assault on the stock of any company that had not had stellar profit growth in the first quarter. Adding more fuel to the bears' fire was the lack of visibility ahead for corporate earnings.

The telecommunication sector continued to be the biggest loser  in the first quarter, and as such, their stocks continued to be pummeled by the bears.

Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed) made some speeches in April trying to reassure stock market investors that the sky was not

falling. Mr. Greenspan may be too old now to remember his "irrational exuberance" speech that he gave in 1996, when he was afraid that the stock market was poised for a crash.

Mr. Greenspan is now worried about the "irrational depression" of many stock market investors that are still licking their wounds from the stock market implosion of 2000, 2001 and 2002.

The Middle east conflict continued throughout April with no end in sight (What else is new?) Even Colin Powell's visit to Israel didn't cool off the hostilities between the Israelis and the Palestines.

Most major stock  market indexes finished April on the upside. However, the stock market resumed its free-fall in early May.

Throughout May, the bulls and the bears continued their duel, as each major stock market rally was followed by an equally strong sell-off.

Fueling the battle between the bulls and the bears throughout May was the economic statistics being released to the public which depicted the U.S. economy recovering, albeit with not much vigor. Investors were not sure whether to embrace optimism or pessimism throughout May, as the earnings reports for many public corporations showed lackluster profit growth,  with little visibility of what was ahead for the future.

Casting a pall on the muted economic  recovery was the increase in the unemployment rate to 6% disclosed in May for April of 2002. Some economists argued that unemployment always rose after an economic recovery, while others argued that the U.S. economy would soon decline again.

May continued as a tug of war between the bulls and the bears, ending   the   month   with   most 

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