Juggling The Averages

The DOW and NASDAQ are easily manipulated, so they're used like hypnotists' watches, swung in front of the public to lull them into misguided complacency and optimism. Since the trading is more heavily driven by insiders than ever ( now that many more small investors have been gutted and ejected to the curb after 2007-2009 ), it will likely require another coordinated attack by insiders to plunge the averages. They're the ones keeping the juggling balls in the air, so it's their call.

If they can't lure enough sheep back into the markets for the next shearing, then it's hardly worth it to them to build more pump and dump bubbles, because they'll just be picking their own pockets. The averages may be left to hum along in a narrow range for quite a while, to serve as a 'stage curtain' of positive economic news that conceals the terrible employment numbers and the federal debt tsunami and the huge fissures appearing in so many state budgets.