To go around to sate the buyers. So the positives get magnified and the negatives get ignored. That happened again today. The dow dipped 13 points, s p advanced, nasdaq gained. 29 , nice move. First, lets understand, this market is largely driven not by stock pickers but by index funds. That index fund money comes in automatically everyday billions of dollars placed in equities will move equities higher why does this send stocks up so much the for starters, directional. That money tends not to be traded it soaks up supply quite easily. Remember, the stock market is a function of supply and demand. Before the index phenomenon which didnt exist in the 80s and 90s, mutual funds and hedge funds would be selling as well as buying. They still do. But the amount of index money coming in, chiefly for retirement, far outweighs the amounts that are traded. It overwhelms them dont get me wrong, index funds are the right choice for you if youre putting money away for retirement, you shouldnt try t