Idiot-Maker Rally

There is the Wall Street term of a “sucker’s rally”—a brief run-up in stocks that “suckers” fall for. The blog Business Insider ran the story “The Nine-Month Idiot Maker Rally Won’t Be Followed By Another One” on December 11, 2009 and has frequently used “idiot-maker rally” in its stories.
 
On April 8, 2012, Business Insider explained its terminology:
 
“A phrase you’ll sometimes read on these pages is ‘idiot-maker’, as in the ‘idiot-maker rally’, which is our term to describe this massive bull run we’ve been on since March, 2009, during which tons of smart people have called for its premature death.
 
We don’t actually mean anyone is an idiot for mis-calling the market. We mean that the market has that amazing ability to make even the smartest people look like total idiots. And actually that’s one of the things we love about all markets, not just the current multi-year bull run.”

 
Business Insider
The Nine-Month Idiot Maker Rally Won’t Be Followed By Another One
Vincent Fernando | Dec. 11, 2009, 5:31 AM
This chart shows nine-month returns for the S&P 500 from Bespoke Investment Group.  It makes it pretty clear that we’ve just experienced the most spectacular periods for stocks since… yes… 1933.

Whether an idiot-maker, or idiot-made, equity holders made a ton of money, proving that, once again, when everyone is ultra-bearish, it’s time to buy.
   
Business Insider
The Idiot-Maker Rally Continues!
John Carney and Gus Lubin | Jan. 8, 2010, 9:40 AM
The rally that made a lot of the smartest people around look like idiots slowed dramatically in the final months of 2009.
 
But the much predicted decline never happened.
 
Business Insider
Ask John Carney Anything!
Kamelia Angelova | Jan. 13, 2010, 2:53 PM
(...)
John has been writing extensively on the state of the economy, Wall Street culture, Goldman Sachs and most recently about idiot-maker rally for Clusterstock and The Money Game.
 
Business Insider
THE IDIOT-MAKER RALLY: Two Years Of Making Gurus Look Stupid
Gus Lubin and Meredith Lepore | Mar. 9, 2011, 12:43 PM
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the bull market. In the past twenty four months, the S&P has nearly doubled, from 666 up to 1320.
 
During this period countless gurus have said it was a sucker’s rally and told you to sell.
 
We hope you didn’t listen to them.
 
Business Insider
Is The US Treasury Market About To Mint A Fresh Generation Of Idiots?
Joe Weisenthal | Apr. 8, 2012, 6:10 PM
A phrase you’ll sometimes read on these pages is “idiot-maker”, as in the “idiot-maker rally”, which is our term to describe this massive bull run we’ve been on since March, 2009, during which tons of smart people have called for its premature death.
 
We don’t actually mean anyone is an idiot for mis-calling the market. We mean that the market has that amazing ability to make even the smartest people look like total idiots. And actually that’s one of the things we love about all markets, not just the current multi-year bull run.
 
Business Insider
THE IDIOT-MAKER RALLY: Check Out All Of The Gurus Made To Look Like Fools By This Market
Matthew Boesler | Mar. 5, 2013, 6:15 PM
On Tuesday, the Dow closed at an all-time high. It’s up 120 percent from its March 6, 2009 lows.
(...)
To be clear, none of the people we identify here are idiots, and we don’t want to give that impression.
 
But this epic bull market run has certainly made a lot of people look and feel like idiots.
 
Zero Hedge
The Complete Ira Sohn Conference Highlights
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/09/2013 09:28 -0400
While Paul Singer, Kyle Bass, and Stan Druckenmiller got the headlines, there were in total 14 worthwhile speakers at yesterday’s Ira Sohn conference. Though many of the themes were unsurprising, it is nonetheless useful to compare your own views to those of these professional money managers who are now bludgeoned daily by the ‘idiot-maker’ rally… of course, that is, until they are proved 100% correct.