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It happens every time.

The market has been skirting the bottom for days, or even weeks.

The early morning news mentions that futures are up on some piece of ginned-up news... a government report that is supposedly not as bad as expected... a hint of profits (or more likely just more corporate cost cutting)... maybe even a rumor of a pending "plunge protection team" action...

Nothing factual, mind you. Just buzz, innuendo and more than a bit of desperate hope.

When the open comes, there is an initial surge as shares come up to match and fill futures orders. If the open is strong enough, brokers will start calling short players, asking them to either raise margin or cover by buying back shares and returning borrowed shares.

The short players have been having a party for weeks, dining on the corpses of failed dreams. What's more, they know for a fact that the party will resume soon enough.

Well, August washed up. It was the worst month for US stocks in almost a decade. And yesterday didn't help. The Dow couldn't manage a rally. It rose just 4 points.

The British newspaper, The Telegraph, has the story:

"It's pretty clear the US economy has hit a wall," said Barry Knapp, head of US equity strategy at Barclays Capital. "The macro picture is dominating and, right now, it's not clear what's going to get the market out of this spot."

Those fears took centre stage again during the final day of trading.

In New York, markets enjoyed some brief respite from the blizzard of weak data as reports on the US housing market and consumer confidence proved better than feared. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence climbed to 53.5 last month from 51 in July, while the latest reading from the respected S&P/Case-Shiller index showed that home prices were up 4.2pc in June compared with a year ago.

The day's rally proved short-lived, however, after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest meeting returned investors to the summer's familiar themes. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has spent the past few weeks facing increasing pressure from markets to publicly declare he will do more to fight the prospect of a second recession if the recovery stumbles further. According to the minutes, some members of the Fed's Open Market Committee saw "increased downside risks to the outlook for both growth and inflation".

That admission left the Dow up just 4.99 points at 10,014.72 for the day, while the S&P ended the day up 0.41 at 1,049.33.

As I sit to write to you today, the market is up a bit again.

Not a lot, mind you; in fact, not even as much as it was this morning, when traders sieved through the week's ever-so-ugly facts and figures, and grabbed hold of one odd stat as an excuse to run up shares for an hour or so.

I must admit, even I -- the most bearish of bears -- was taken aback when I first read this item. I am speaking of the Institute of Supply Management's surprising notice that its factory purchasing managers index had risen to 56.3 in August, when most all had expected a decline to 52.3.

"Take That, You Bears!"

We went to our last summer soiree last night. It took place at a neighbor's chateau, where a large, ancient stone barn had been transformed into a dining room for 100 people.

"We're screwed...so are you..." said a friend.

First, an update from Wall Street: the Dow was unable to sustain a bounce yesterday. It fell 74 points. Gold dropped $3.

Hiring...house sales...the latest news confirms that there is no real recovery going on. And now this from the AP:

I was sitting in the office of a billion-dollar hedge fund manager, and good friend, a couple of months ago comparing notes.

The mood was casual... until I mentioned a side project of mine.

I had found a 39-year-old glitch in the federal accounting system.

Not only that, but I figured out how to exploit this error to make as much as $3,750 every month.

The truth is I sold my best stock portfolio in May 2007 and was using this glitch as my only way to make money.

My strategy is so foolproof, when the best stock market dropped 36% in just over a year, I kept every penny of my wealth intact.

My friend pleaded with me to keep the details of my strategy between us. He even offered me a large sum of money to do so.

But, I wasn't interested in keeping it to myself.

That's why I'm writing you today. As a Taipan Publishing Group subscriber, I want to give you first crack at this incredible moneymaking opportunity.