Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Starboard Tack]

Substitute MM for PPT. Market Makers can and do manipulate the market. It is allowed by their charters. It is easily within their power and ability to control pricing and generate responses from all of us (that is why volume can sometimes lag price movements).

The PPT may be attempting to manipulate markets, but the best they can do is trigger the market makers to follow their lead. They are relatively powerless by comparison. Market Makers promote their own agendas to generate sales (long or short) and enrich their personal accounts doing the unexpected as a side benefit. Their movements are cloaked in secrecy by law. These powers and abilities are rights granted by the US Congress and protected by law. The powers have been challedged in court and upheld.

It would behove everyone to think in terms of the MM's intentions to better understand the markets. The model for the PPT has to be Japan's version(s). If that is the case, then look to how well they have done there. MM's have to get from one logical point to another through illogical twists and turns or else the markets could not operate at all. Everyone would want to be on the logical side of the markets and they might cease to function. They have to continue to generate demand for product even on the way down- thus the rallies. Create fear on the way up to free up some shares to sell back to others.

The other big force is institional funds. They don't always do the 'logical' thing at the correct time because they would move the markets too much. So they need to be somewhat contrary to logic in order to make money.

One other question to consider is that the stock market has become larger than the rest of the economy. Could it be that it can take on a life of its own? If IT grows, the economy grows defacto as a direct result of the stock market. While not strictly true, the market has become a major force in the economy in and of itself.