by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
By making the stock market the only game in town, the Powers That Be can no longer afford to let it decline for any reason.
Market technicians have long observed that the holes in charts left when markets gap up or down at the open of trading almost inevitably get filled later on. When the market gaps down, it will eventually rise to fill that gap. When the market gaps up, it will eventually decline to fill that open gap.
Since there are open gaps galore lurking in the lower depths of the S&P 500’s chart, that would typically suggest stocks must–gasp!–fall to fill those open gaps. The prospect that stocks might not drift higher forever without interruption is deeply disturbing, and so the Powers That Be have issued a new edict: unfilled gaps below must never be allowed to fill.
This new rule simplifies trading, confidence and sentiment: