The Dow closed up 5 percent today. That’s the biggest point gain for the closely watched index since Nov. 21st.

I don’t often blog about the stock market because I think for most of us, a buy and hold, don’t look at it every day strategy is best. But since there’s been scads of negative stock market coverage in recent weeks, I just had to point out that the market had a good day.

Hope you’re having one too.

Here’s food for thought: the daily DJIA index update — a laundry list of Dow stats that are e-mailed to me daily. Pay close attention to the first number. Up 11 percent. That feels good, doesn’t it? See, the market goes down and then it goes up.

Next, you’ll notice that the Dow makes history and breaks records all the time, which media types like myself never fail to point out. Today we experienced the biggest one-day percentage gain since 1933.That sounds pretty good too, doesn’t it?

Finally, so you don’t accuse me of being a Polyanna, yes,  the market is still down a lot, and has a long way to go to recover (see the last half dozen bullet points).

As of October 13, 2008

• The DJIA, up 936.42 points, or 11.08%, to close at 9387.61.

• Snaps a string of eight straight losing days.

• Biggest one-day closing point gain ever.

• Biggest one-day percentage gain since March 15, 1933.

• 5th largest percent gain in the DJIA’s history.

• Intraday, the DJIA hit a high of 9427.99, up 976.80 points, or 12%.

• At its intraday low, the DJIA dipped to 8462.18.

• On an intraday basis at today’s high, the DJIA posted its biggest intraday point and percentage gain since 1995 (as far back as our database is populated — prior to that, theoretical highs and lows were used). A theoretical high is the high the DJIA would have hit if every single component hit its high at the same time. The theoretical high can differ greatly from the actual high which is why they are not comparable.

• It has dropped 4776.92 points, or 33.72%, from its record close of 14164.53, hit on October 9, 2007.

• It has dropped -28.11% from its 2008 close high of 13058.20, hit on May 2.

• Month-to-date, the DJIA is down -13.48%. In September, it closed down 6.00%.

• Year-to-date, it is down -29.23%.

• Down 33% from a year-ago-today.

Sorry for the inactivity on Ka-Blog. I’ve been hit with some sort of contagion– not like a financial contagion, more like a raging cold. I’ll make it up to you next week.

Anyway, I’ve been catching up today and mulling over this phrase which welcomes me as I high-tail it off the 1-94 5th ave. exit  into downtown every weekday:

“The markets are not working properly.”

Has anyone else seen this spray-painted message? I first noticed it sometime last week.

It’s the first economy-related graffiti I’ve seen in this downturn.

So…..how exactly do you interpret the tagger’s message? Do you think he/she is right?

I spent the day writing a Q&A on that very topic. In a nutshell, of course it matters, but there’s not much to do.

Here’s the link to my story. In the meantime, what questions do you have about what’s going on on Wall Street?

And what do you do to avoid abandoning ship? It’s hard to watch the stock market gyrate and do nothing.

My portfolio is now down roughly 15 percent (that was as of Friday so it’s down even more after today’s more than 500 point drop thanks to my heavy international exposure (it would be worse if I didn’t own small-caps and global bonds).

“Opinions are for show, numbers are for dough”

Don’t you love that? It’s one of Minneapolis money manager and researcher Steve Leuthold’s phrases, which he shared at the group’s annual luncheon today. Leuthold runs six mutual funds, but is best known for the research that drives the investment decisions behind the funds.

Leuthold is about as down to earth as you get. He started his group’s annual meeting, which was held on the 50th floor of the IDS Center, with an anecdote about how the reason he’s not wearing a suit is because he went to China, gained 8 pounds and can’t button any of his suit pants.

Then again, that’s the kind of thing you expect from a guy whose team named one mutual fund the Undervalued and Unloved Fund with the ticker UGLYX and has a pricey monthly research report that features reader-submitted jokes.

Have you heard the one about the– gosh, I seriously was just looking through their reports and the jokes are either super crass or novel-length. OK, here’s one, titled “You Gotta Love the Irish:”

At a U2 concert in Ireland, Bono (the lead singer) asks the audience for some quiet. Then he starts to slowly clap his hands. Holding the audience in total silence, he says into the microphone…

“I want you to think about something. Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.”

A voice from the back of the audience yells out…”Then stop yer clapping, ya wanker!”

But seriously, here are a few things of note that Leuthold and friends said today:

They are currently “neutral” on the stock market, meaning the money they manage is 50 percent invested in equities. Leuthold explained that sometimes you just have to wait for the market to reveal its direction. If we could all be so disciplined.

Leuthold thinks we’ve been in a recession for two quarters now despite the official GDP numbers. He called the use of inflation figures that don’t include food or energy prices as “a big joke” and a “seriously flawed” approach. I can’t disagree.

He said based on the historical length of a recession, which is between 11 and 16 months, the time to buy stocks will come about as early as next month, or maybe in August.

He also predicted that interest rates are on the up and up.

And that despite that fact that Wall Street has “gotten through the sub-prime slime,” it’s not time to buy big commercial banks yet (although regional banks look pretty good).