In 2000 or 2001, I was working in Montreal and a gentleman from Europe told me that Central banks such as the U.S Federal Reserve had been buying common stocks to support the stock markets. He said that he had seen it first hand while working as a trader in Europe. I had no reason to doubt him. It is well known that the Central Banks have been large buyers of bonds and are the world’s largest purchasers of gold bullion for years……so why not common stocks? What could be better to keep the stock markets up and prevent bear markets? Or could it?  We will see and perhaps very soon.