I have been following the board conversations and all the guessing on share prices.... about shorts...lemmings...margin players and woodpeckers....and leaks...

No one has mentioned accounting practices..and today is a good example of that..Funds balance their accounts every month on the last trading day of the month..like today...the month end is held open for 6 days to let things settle and close..

So some of this movement ,and we may see more of it before the close tonight ,is the fund managers balancing their accounts..and I just thought I would throw in a little expalnation..for those that may not understand the whys and where fores..

Month End Close Defined

Month end close is performed to finalize a snap shot of transactional activity for a period. Most processes run at month end are also run on a daily and/or weekly basis. For month end, these processes are performed for the last time for a particular month to ensure that all transactions are posted and reflected on reports. The month is officially closed when all of the month end processes are complete (including posting.)

Month End Transactions and Processes

The month being closed remains open for six additional business days in the new month in order to process all prior month transactions. Additionally, many iJournals and core journals can only be generated after the last calendar day of the month.