TMFJake (53.39)

Goldman Sachs Puppet Master?

July 20, 2009 – Comments (3) | RELATED TICKERS: GS

Today's Headline contrast Goldman Sachs' Bullish S&P Forecast with the usual Marc Faber Warning of Imminent Financial Collapse:

Goldman: Sees improved earnings as the catalyst for a second half surge that will drive the S&P to 1060 by the end of 2009--a nice 12-13% upside from where we currently trade.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alcaYpBt0PvY

Faber: Thinks we've avoided the necessary de-leveraging and cleaning process required to get us out of the mess.  And predicts that the government's efforts to provide a liquidity floor under the economy and markets will lead to a total collapse.

http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=231126&t=01007276696298991768

Who do you believe?  Well, for the conspiracy minded, our friends at Zero Hedge don't believe Faber and Goldman are all that far apart:  http://www.zerohedge.com/article/goldman-starting-offload-prop-positions

Tyler believes that Goldman is simply pumping the markets in order to sell into its S&P 1060 call.

With all the talk of Goldman's High Frequency Trading Strategies manipulating the market, it's hard not to envision its brokerage business manipulating Goldman analysts.  Now Goldman can't produce earning surprises (or can they??!!), but perhaps Goldman traders are able to mezmorize Goldman analysts into believing that we're seeing quality earnings that will take the market higher.