The stock market's rally Tuesday afternoon may be a sign that Wall Street is ready to feel better about the economic crisis.

That's the opinion of Duke University Professor Bill Brown, who had an extensive career in financial services before coming to Duke.

The Dow Jones Industrials finished up 236 points Tuesday on the eve of the President's speech.

"The markets are actually hoping, and anticipating that he will deliver. And if he does deliver, they'll actually reward him big time," believes Professor Brown.

Before he taught, Brown worked at such companies as Goldman Sachs and AIG International.

In trying to outline what needs to be done, the President was candidly grim about the situation, but tried to add an optimistic, inspiring note during his speech.

Professor Brown likens it to what happened during the Second World War

"World War II changed the way we thought about the economy," he said. "It gave us hope. It gave us focus, and that's what the President needs to do."

But the President may need to do even more than that. A number of students at Duke, taught by Professor Brown, are enrolled in a special course studying the economic crisis.

Michael Kaplan is one of those students.

"I think he can re-conceptualize the way the American economy works in terms of dealing with the future," he said. "I don't think spending for the sake of spending is a good thing."

Student Andrew Scriven thinks the public needs to know the president is dealing with the underlying aspects of the economic downturn too.

"I think he's also faced with the challenge that the American public has a negative perception of the investment banks currently. They've been labeled with excess greed and taken excess bonuses; the sixth largest bonus pool after record losses," said Scriven.

And despite what the President said Tuesday night, Professor Brown's disciples believe results are going to take time to achieve.

"We'll find out in a year or two years about the job he's done," said student Luke Ortner.