To: Susan G who wrote (4792 ) 11/21/2000 2:02:30 AM From: KevinMark Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 8925 >>>. It is our hope that it fades as investors realize their calls are more or less bogus. <<< Susan, their calls are ALWAYS bogus. The problem is, they have the power to move the markets one way or another by several means, regardless of what the retail investor thinks or DOES. On the long end, they support bids, and uptick stocks on 100 share buys, and on the short end, the opposite is true. Take today for example, they dropped every bid in site before the open today, with no selling from retail investors. They shorted their downgrades yesterday, before making the call this morning. Take a look at JNPR's log from yesterday. Isn't it ironically there were several blocks shorted near the close yesterday? That's because THEY were in the know. What should be investigated and brought to the attention of the SEC is the power to naked short. They use this tool to create an ORDERLY market, which is complete and utter BS. That's the REAL problem. There was a ton of retail buying today, yet the institutions kept prices down. One of the NYSE floor traders even recognized the fact that they're was retail buying, but "the institutions didn't join the party"! And until they do, this market WILL never move higher. They control the switch, and by that I mean, they can uptick stocks on every 100 share buy, or they can simply continue to eat shares on the ask. They're all in this together, make no mistake about that. These guys(firms)knew the downgrades were coming this am, hence the drop in the bids, before the market even opened. They will have to throw a bone pretty soon, or else they know they might scare every retail investor away for good. However, 1 bone doesn't lead to a feast. KM