Wall Street got a much needed boost on Tuesday, bringing the Dow Jones industrials nearly 320 points higher. The change was welcome by investors and consumers alike because the rally was sparked after reassuring news from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. quelled some of the market’s worst fears about the credit crisis and the economy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported third-quarter profits which surpassed projections and suggested that consumer spending might be stronger than anticipated for this holiday shopping season. The results also showed that heavy discounting during the period did not hurt margins, which the company said bodes well for their fourth quarter earnings potential. Although the news from Wal-Mart is encouranging, it is to be taken with a grain of salt due to the fact that Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, and the biggest discounter of consumer goods would have a tendency to see volume spending during times of financial uncertainty. As an indicator of this consumer trend to save money by shopping at Wal-Mart when pennies are being pinched, a quick glance at higher end retaliers such as Macy’s shows that consumers are looking for bargins, not luxury items.

Oil prices once again played a part in today’s volatile movement in the market with a plunge in the price of oil giving investors further incentive to buy. A sharp decline in energy prices also encouraged Wall Street into bullish territory. Oil prices plummeted after the International Energy Agency reduced its expectations for demand in the fourth quarter and next year and said crude supplies are growing. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $3.45 to settle at $91.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Today’s patterns fit a typical “Comeback Tuesday” effect and more likely than not, Wednesday will follow suit but with smaller, sheepish gains leading into Thursday’s levelling off and the market staying flat across the board. If the pattern holds, Friday will see a downturn once again because the current US Markets are on a volatile ride compared to their counterparts around the world.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.46 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.50 percent. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.39 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.38 percent, while France’s CAC-40 added 0.06 percent.

When you compare the other major world markets daily percentage gains and losses to the +2.46% gain in the Dow Jones industrials today and the -2% losses seen in the previous week, it seems the US markets are extremely temperamental and the lack of stability does not appeal to the average investor.