In the November 2010 launch of QE2, the stock marketmoved higher initially but then tumbled 400 points over the next week. Investors then had an entry point to a rally that lasted until February 2011, but the market slid again and has had a volatile climb since.

This time around, Laura thinks the Dow will retreat to the 12,600 range, giving investors another opportunity to buy on a dip.

But he thinks that will come "in spite of" QE and not because of it.

"The only time you start at the top is when you’re digging a hole, and that’s where we see the markets," Laura said. "You can’t come in at this point and expect things to move higher. There’s no major catalyst waiting in the wings and a number of economic headwinds remain. It’s all flash with no substance right now."

To be sure the market has had its share of up days since the Sept. 13 QE3 announcement.

But even then, rallies have been sold through the day, with the final hour of trading showing a net decline of 0.13 percent, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

"If it feels like gains have been washed away in the final hour on up days, and losses have intensified in the final hour on down days, it’s because they have," Bespoke said in an note in which it suggested that institutional investors probably have been selling into strength at the market close.

QE3, though, is not specifically designed to drive up the stock market in the way that its predecessors did.

Instead, the program is targeting $40 billion a month of mortgage-backed securitiesin an effort to drive down home loan rates beyond their present record-low levels. In turn, the Fed hopes, homeowners will refinance, giving them more disposable income to buy goods that in turn will generating hiring.

In the near term, QE3 has helped bank profits but not bank stocks, which have fallen about 2.5 percent.

Indeed, the theory has many critics, with economists continuing to doubt that central banks are better at price stability than creating jobs.