Market Rally Best in 20 Years

Stocks soared on Friday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its best weekly performance in more than 20 years. This is good news indeed. The Dow gained 8.4 percent this week, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.5 percent, its best week since the rebound after the terrorist attacks in September 2001. The rally pushed both indexes into positive territory for the year, along with the Nasdaq composite index.

Not only did the start of the Iraqi War give a boost to the stock market, but the swing in the price of crude oil from $38 a barrel at its peak ahead of war to below $27 helped. The next worry is how will OPEC react. OPEC ministers said they would hold an emergency meeting if oil prices drop below $24 a barrel.

While some analysts expressed strong optimism about the market's performance in the weeks ahead, many remain cautiously optimistic, encouraging investors to carefully find their way back in the market.

Stay tuned. It's great to get some long-awaited good news about the market. Let's keep our fingers crossed.