Just further evidence of the hollow nature of this bear market rally resulting from PPT activity...

Regards - VHF

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Because You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two

Nathan Martin

April 23, 2009

One bombshell after another… We learn that of the program trading which accounts for more than 30% of all trading on the NYSE, Goldman performed more than twice the next lower program trading firm and that they solely were responsible for nearly 25% of all program trading.

click to enlarge: http://tinyurl.com/copns3

If that doesn’t tell you who controls the markets, I don’t know what does. If there is a PPT surrogate, there it is, right there. Goldman, and all the large Primary Dealers need to be broken up if we ever want any hope of having free markets again.

Today the DOW closed up 71 points, the S&P finished up 1%, the NDX finished up .7%, and the RUT diverged by finishing down .9%.

The CMBX indices did turn up slightly today and internally the advancing issues were about 3 to 2 over declining and 64% of the volume was up on the NYSE. The XLF gained 4.7%, IYR gained 4.2%, the dollar was lower, gold was higher, and the VIX lost 2.5%.

The data today was mostly all bad – it’s good, don’t you know, that the market holds up in the face of bad news! New home sales worse, prices down, inventory supply up; Unemployment claims up, continuing claims at a new all time record; Possible prepackaged bankruptcy for Chrysler as early as next week, and Ken Lewis told by Bernanke and Paulson to keep his big banker mouth zipped about Merrill Lynch. All in all, a rational time to invest in stocks, especially if you are eating the leftover gruel shoveled out by Goldman.