the stock market is not in any meaningful way a measure of the strength of the economy, and only vaguely represents the value of any specific company.

however, it is an excellent measure of the amount of money in the economy.

it follows that removing money from the economy will eventually result in declining stock values, and that the more money you remove, the steeper the decline. likewise, a decision to create more money will always lead to increasing stock values.

while the situation is always reversible, the decision to create or destroy money has a time lag in terms of how it affects the markets. right now, it would seem as though the dow will likely see 20,000 again before it sees 30,000 the first time.