>> Of course they will, they've got to program the markets for the Santa Clause rally, ;) <<
The last weekend to shop is now gone, IMO all gifts are bought, no longer any need to keep'em happy...LOL, unless they know they'll be depositing some cash in their brokerage accounts real soon...
Santa rally means nothing anymore (will you shop less if we go down from here?), it's more about year over year performance now and many houses probably closed the books on the year already (they simply use 12/15/03 to 12/15/04 as a gauge)...
Of course all this is all JMO,
Good Trading...