Surfer Dude, IMHO, shorting is never wise given all the scamsters from the Fed, the brokerage firms, the Treasury, the banks, etc. who try to manipulate the herd. That's why I buy puts.
This time, I think the Plunge Protection Team (isn't that why they put chlorine in the pool in high school?) is probably the brain child of a certain Wall Street firm that wants to go public. The funny thing is, exactly the same thing was tried by The President of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929 and it worked for awhile. However, in that case, the Prez had embezzled the play money and he later went to prison. <G> See the book, "Once Upon A Time In Golconda" for that sleazy story.
This is a lot like govts fighting the currency speculators. Govts can win for a while, but, unless they change their evil ways and start flying right, it means nothing. Ditto for the market. Goofs can manipulate it for a while, but unless earnings eventually grow into these grotesque stock valuation levels, such games are throwing money down a hole. And I love it, because earnings continue to be a disaster.
So, I agree that short term they may be able to sucker the truly dumb into buying more stock. Suspecting that would happen, I am a bit light on puts right now, though not quite as light as I was before yesterday's all-time up point move. As the market moves up, I add to my puts, because the real world of business still sucks and isn't getting better. Few on Wall Street pay attention to such mundane things, but, in the long run, stocks cannot remain overpriced relative to their value as businesses.
MB
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