On the day the Dow cleared 13,000–a mark not seen since 2008–some traders on Wall Street seemed entirely unimpressed. "There was not a lot of enthusiasm," said CNN's Erin Burnett, who visited the New York Stock Exchange for the first time since leaving her post at the NYSE. One trader called the recovery "lame."

Peter Kenny, managing director of Knight Capital, said "the market has moved with great sponsorship, great leadership...the underpinning's been surprisingly strong." But Kenny notes "there's still quite a bit of cash on the sidelines," and that may explain the tepid response among traders to Tuesday's milestone.