Eric Balkan

The Plunge Protection Team Exposed

I can agree that most conspiracy theories don't pan out, but they probably wouldn't start if there wasn't some unexplainable event that provides the seed for the theory. In the case of the Kennedy assassination, the Warren Commission was given the job of coming up with the simplest explanation, so as to avoid a crisis. E.g., before they did in-depth interviews with people on the scene, they asked these potential witnesses where they heard the shots coming from. If they said the Texas Book Deposity, they were interviewed. The 50 or so people who said the grassy knoll were never interviewed. That's how you start a conspiracy theory.

During the late Feb-Mar drop, someone noted that late on the day of the drop, the Fed loaned a couple of brokerage houses $40B. These brokers then went into the thinly traded overnight market and bought DJI futures. Then, when traders saw this "bullish" activity the following morning, they figured the drop was largely over. This was reported by at least two regular contributors to Seeking Alpha, one of whom reproduced a copy of the Fed loan record in his article. So, make of that what you will.