Why is the Stock Market UP when the Government is shut down?Caterpillar, Inc.BATS:CATMarthaStokesCMT-TechniTraderThe stock market has been trending upward via the indexes as representative of the overall stock market. The Government of the US has been shut down for over a week, but stocks, especially big blue chip stocks keep moving upward. WHY? Is it Wall Street vs Main Street? No. Is it because the "economy is unstoppable? No. Is it because of tariffs? and all that money going to the government? No. So what is driving big name companies upward when the market should be crashing because of the shut down as stock market has ALWAYS DONE in the past any time the ceiling budget increase fails in Congress? Corporations, with the huge tax cuts this year, and with AI providing significant lower overhead costs, and payroll costs, are in a massive buyback program once again, as they were in 2018 and 2019. Buybacks are intended to move price of a stock upward and or maintain a price that the corporation has targeted for their buybacks. The Bank of Record for the corporation does the actual physical work of buying shares of a company back to return the ownership of those shares to the corporation. This boost dividends which keep the Buy Side Institutions, who hold the majority of shares of many corporations, from lowering inventory for that stock. Buy Side Institutions are the most important investors for every corporation. Keep the Buy Side Institutions content with how the company is being managed is a key element of maintaining a high Percentage of Shares held by Institutions which is the primary goal of every corporation. Corporations focus on keeping shareholders holding their stock is not about the average small lot investor. It is all about keeping the Buy Side Institutions pleased with the price of the stock during extreme stress to the market. This is very important information as it tells you WHO CONTROLS PRICE and that tells you when to enter a stock, how to trade that stock, what strategies will work best for your trading style, and when and how to exit to close the trade at the ideal profit taking price level.