Yes wall street wants stocks to go up, but they do not have enough cash to prop up the market when Target or Walmart delivers poor results (see brief below). You say it only works for rapid directions, yes, because the S&P moves in rapid directions, BUT its overall direction for the last 4 months has been down, with sharp dead cat bounce rallies. You can not argue with the long term average, US stocks are trading with record high PE's and sooner or later they will return to the average PE because their earnings are falling. Australian stocks are in far better shape, but they will feel the fall-out from the US markets and rising inflation, In My Humble Opinion.
Target stock plunged 25% to less than $162 on Wednesday—hitting its lowest point since late 2020 and erasing $25 billion in market value—as investors digested the retail giant’s morning earnings report, which revealed profit margins that were “well below” expectations due in part to higher freight and transportation costs.
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