Call it whatever you prefer, but some form of the Plunge Protection Team was in action Thursday, just after noon ET.
The NASDAQ, Dow, and S&P 500, without any news or algo-gripping headlines other than the usual clickbait trope of a potential deal to open the Strait of Hormuz, suddenly shot skyward between 12:13 and 12:18 pm ET, the NASDAQ gaining 173 points, the Dow up 276, and the S&P popping 40 points, all in just a five-minute window, ostensibly during one of the slowest trading periods of the day, right at lunchtime.
To those unfamiliar with the Plunge Protection Team (otherwise known as the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, was created in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan following the stock market crash of October 1987, also known as Black Monday, to restore investor confidence and maintain orderly markets. It has been in operation in U.S. markets - and probably in foreign markets as well - ever since.
Over the years, since 1988 is more than a generation ago, the function and makeup of the "Working Group" or "PPT" has probably morphed into something different, more complex, less obvious, and involving different players. The U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, comes to mind, since he is the self-declared "house" of financial markets, and also the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), which operates as a slush fund to manage FX flows and other internal plumbing of the world's market structures.
The upshot of Thursday's knee-jerk appreciation for stocks is that what used to be regarded as free, open, fair markets are nothing but, and haven't been for a long time. Thursday's very noticeable upswing was the result of naked intervention and the work was done by agents of the federal government and/or Wall Street's big money insiders. The existence of these manipulating entities (there are surely more than one) is both grotesque and immoral. While nobody likes to see stocks lose value, an equal number of people probably don't like being told lies, especially when those lies involve the deliberate destruction of the currency - in the immediate case, the U.S. dollar's purchasing power - via asset hijacking on public exchanges.
Talk to anybody under the age of 35 about money or economics and you're more than likely to come away with a feeling that they don't understand any of it and probably shouldn't be trusted to pay their own rent. Boomers, the fast-fading generation that benefitted most from fiat money and the necessity of asset price inflation, might understand and comprehend a bit more, but, generally, not much.
The lucky ones got their college degrees, bought houses, worked their forty years or so and retired with pretty healthy benefits from 401k plans, defined benefit plans, and, of course, Social Security. They had it good. Better than most, even better than their "Greatest Generation" parents. Some of them still remember 10-cent comic books, 20-cent McDonald's cheeseburgers and 35-cent-a-gallon gasoline. These days, a decent comic book is $4-6, a Mickey D's cheeseburger typically runs north of $3.00, and gas is $4.35 a gallon on a good day.
The purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has been consistently and purposely debased since the mid-60s when silver coins were taken out of circulation and exacerbated in 1971 when then-president Richard M. Nixon ended the convertibly of dollars into gold "temporarily", which turned into "permanently" pretty darn quickly.
The last Baby Boomers were born in 1964, making them roughly 62 years old today and eligible for early retirement under Social Security, but, luck being tough for late arrivers, they face a 30% cut from full benefits, which used to be age 65, then 66, and now kick in at age 67.
Baby Boomers were retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day, but, they are dying at about 15,000 a day, producing a net loss of 5,000 per day or 1,825,000 people per year that will no longer be receiving SS benefits, yet the system continues to predict insolvency by the year 2030, which is not that far away.
American politicians of all stripes have squandered the wealth of the country. It's that simple. Instead of investing in better infrastructure and public works that would benefit the general public, they spent it on useless wars, military hardware, and the creation of the largest welfare state ever known. Less than half the country actually works for a living, about 169 million. The rest are either under the age of 18, retired, or on the dole, about 72 million. It's a national disgrace and the blame falls squarely on the public, which allowed it to happen by electing the same crooked politicians year after year, cycle after cycle and listening to the controlled propaganda machine called the mainstream media cheering it all on, all the time.
The U.S. government has been running defictis averaging $2 trillion a year since 2020 and that's unlikely to change. Interest alone on the public debt is now more than $1.4 trillion a year. You pay taxes, the government collects and spends that money, then borrows another $2 trillion every year. That is not a sustainable position no matter how hard you listen to President Trump and his band of horn-blowers telling you everything is just fine and dandy, thank you.
Living standards, educational standards, and just about every other standard in the United States has been falling for decades. You or somebody you know might be able to maintain their standard of living, but you or they are paying more for it because the currency is rapidly being debased. In the early 1970s, the median price of existing home was around $23,000. Today, it's $404,000. A thirty-year mortgage on such a home costs over $2,000 a month, and that's before property taxes, insurance, and utilities and maintenance costs.
Who can afford that? Only people making upwards of $100,000 a year and that's stretching it.
The point being that inflation, the hidden tax Austrian economists have persistently warned about for decades, has eaten away at everything in America. Even though it may not feel like it, it's now down to bare bones, which is why the Plunge Protection Team went in and goosed stocks on Thursday. They had to, because the system cannot withstand even a hint of a correction or significant downturn. Any thought of a recession is out of the question. Outside of the Covid experience of 2020, the U.S. hasn't had a real recession since 2008, which, in terms of economic history, is a long time. Recessions generally occur about every 10 years. They clean out bad investment and create an environment from which the general economy can grow. Nowadays, the U.S. can't afford that because it has overindulged on credit and a true correction in stocks and an accompanying recession would more than likely cause a calamitous crash and politicians taking blame, and we can't have that.
So, expect stocks to not lose value, but for food and gas prices to continue higher for the foreseeable future, meaning well into 2027 and probably beyond. The U.S. is trapped in a vicious debt cycle of its own creation and there is no escape except to continue inflating asset values (stocks), which comes neatly wrapped with price inflation for everything else.
On Thursday, the PPT turned big losses into minor ones. Friday might look like a huge, broad rally. Muppets who sold on Thursday are bag-holders. Wall Street elite made bank.
It bears repeating:
The government needs to keep the game going, the rich are perfectly willing to play along, the middle class has no choice, and the poor get a free ride. - Fearless Rick, Money Daily, 9/22/26
With the opening bell minutes away, Dow futures are up 135, NASDAQ futures are up 113, and S&P futures are ahead by 18 points. The Trump-Xi summit has taken a back seat to negotiations with Iran this morning, with hopes of a deal driving oil lower (WTI, $92/barrel) and equities higher. The elephant in the room continues to be yields on long-dated treasury maturities. Yield on the 10-year note is at 5.18% with the 30-year yielding 5.47%.
At the Close, Thursday, September 24, 2026:
Dow: 51,349.98, -161.61 (-0.31%)
NASDAQ: 26,939.37, +3.34 (+0.01%)
S&P 500: 7,704.13, -1.90 (-0.02%)
NYSE Composite: 23,816.49, -31.75 (-0.13%)
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