Johnston will be in place for a while yet, it would seem, and he made a bullish case for optimism.

"There is still a bullish case for bonds," he said, "but the market is just retracing to a more sustainable level."

The bullish case now is that the Fed's easier credit policy will get the economy out of the recession within a reasonable period of time.

The bullish case was not without its supporters.

One factor supporting the bullish case is the amount of cash in the hands of institutional money managers.

It's not a strong support on which to build a bullish case.

One argument against the bullish case for Iraqi debt is that the banks may unload their positions once trading restrictions end.

At the heart of the bullish case for 1989 was the belief that interest rates were headed lower.

The bullish case is more enjoyable to contemplate and has the virtue of having a lot of history on its side.

Maybe he concluded that the bullish case, based on rising profits and low inflation, was correct.