Wall Street rebounds. Down tomorrow?

Let's see, the market was down yesterday. Was it up today?

Of course, and around and around we go. 

Stocks on Wall Street roared back Thursday, after Wednesday's drubbing, which followed Tuesday's rebound, which followed Monday's collapse.

The S&P, Dow and NASDAQ all gained 4 percent today, by the way.

Here's how the New York Times characterized the ongoing volatility:

Every day so far this week, stocks have ricocheted between steep gains and losses to an extent that has not been seen since March 2009. Thursday’s close marked the first time that the S&P 500 had swings of more than 50 points for four straight sessions.

“It’s just a yo-yo,” Myles Zyblock, chief institutional strategist at RBC Capital Markets told the Times. “I think the primary structure is still in place, and that is a structure of concern.”

Right. So what does it all mean?

Simple: investors, just like most people, are unnerved by all the problems in the world economy right now:

• The U.S. economy is a mess.
• The world is awash in debt.
• Europe is teetering on the edge of disaster. 
• China, meanwhile, is slowing and Japan is struggling to recover from disaster. The Middle East is still a revolutionary mess, while the rising costs of climate change ride above all of this economic unease like a dark and dangerous cloud.

So if you're in the mood for a deep think, check out our reporting series 7 Deadly Stories, which lays out the problems cited above. 

It beats following the markets up and down, up and down, up and down like a bouncing ball.