the dow closed at a record high well done but how and why?

Answer 1

After the Swiss banking giant UBS announced it had to take a $3.4 billion hit against third-quarter profit tied to its subprime mortgage exposure, and the world's largest bank, Citigroup announced it expects third-quarter profit to fall 60% from last year after huge write-downs for unsold debt it issued to finance corporate takeovers and for big losses on the value of subprime mortgage-backed securities, the public felt that the worst was behind them and that things can only get better, hence the resurgence in optimism.

"One thing the market can't stand is the unknown; today we know some of the damage - that gives us some solace that perhaps we can move on," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.