by Rick Ackerman
RickAckerman.com
The stock market long ago decoupled from economic reality, as we all know, but it would be hard to find better evidence of this than yesterday’s surreal performance on Wall Street. For instance, while one might have expected plummeting bank profits to take a heavy toll on the sector, the Bank Stock Index, which has been on a tear for the last two weeks, opened with a sharp lurch higher and ended the day at the top of its range. Could it have been the 60% drop in profits reported by Goldman Sachs that triggered the buying panic? Only the Smart Money knows.