Referring back to my essay of March 6, 2009, "Itching to Rally," it was clear to me that investors wanted to buy stocks very badly. They were discounting all manner of bad news, believing whatever lies were being told and ready to climb the slippery slope of hope. Boy, did they!

The Price of the VectorVest Composite is up 31% from its March 9th close and investors' sentiment has undergone a mighty change. Investors now believe that the bear market is over and stock prices are more likely to go up than down. The only problem is that they are not convinced. Why should they be?

The bear market isn't over and it won't be for a long time to come. The economy is in terrible shape and there's no guarantee it's going to get much better soon. All the talk about the housing market hitting bottom on June 30th, "green shoots," and GDP going up in the fourth quarter is just a lot of hooey. For months, Dr. Ben Bernanke, Head of the Fed, has been saying that the economy will be growing by the end of the year. Yet, the minutes of the Fed's April FOMC meeting, released Wednesday, shows a forecast of a worsening economy in 2009.

Yesterday's news that Standard & Poor's said the U.K. has a 1 in 3 chance of getting its credit rating downgraded from the AAA sent stock prices plunging around the world. It also raised concerns about the U.S.'s AAA credit rating, sending both the U.S. dollar and U.S. government bond prices lower. Government data showing on-going jobless claims at a record high and a Philadelphia Fed survey showing further contraction of manufacturing activity also dampened hopes for an early end to the recession. So what are bullish investors thinking?

They're thinking that bad news offers new opportunities to buy stocks at lower prices. Their strategy has changed from "selling the peaks," when they were bears, to "buying the dips," now that they're bulls. Instead of sliding down the slippery slope of hope, they're Climbing the Wall of Worry.