Markets: WTF? I don't know any more than the Wall Street genius crowd does. Without evidence I can only speculate that lots of people aren't getting counted because they are working. Commodity inflation has ebbed big time so that beans and corn (above chart) are off almost a dollar each. Still too high but the meats are off their highs too. The actual numbers from companies are also OK. I don't get it, but I'm a tech trader and don't bother with news very much. Only thing I can see is that the SEC totally banned naked shorts---selling a stock you don't own but borrow anyway without having any idea where it is-- which has stopped the "bear raids" cold. Now the broker MUST actually have the stock certs in their safe before a client is allowed to "borrow it" and sell it. Naked shorting is also common in the futures markets (shorting without margin) because the play is a true bet and not an investment.