Calculating value of EE bonds . Coping with student loans. What would prevent the incumbent federal government from buying just enough stock on a daily basis to keep the market from taking a nose dive and perhaps driving it up just a tad before the election. They could then sell it off slowly after the election if they win or dump it around Jan. 1 if they lose.
Some force is at work to prevent a big correction.
With daily trading volumes in the 400 million share range, providing market support would cost far more than the government has. Remember, it starts from a monthly net loss position. One repeated lesson of history is that governments, no matter how powerful, can't overcome market forces. Governments that try to support their currencies at unrealistic levels inevitably lose, big time. What we've got here, if you want to worry, is a level of confidence in the power of stocks that has not been seen since the late sixties, early seventies.