Given all the criminal financial doings that go on from insider trading and commodities manipulation etc. I was wondering if, given that a large part of supporting stocks in general and the Magnificent Seven in particular comes from corporate stock buybacks, how do the companies keep their stocks going up during the quarterly blackout periods before earnings are released? I have no actual knowledge of this but would not be surprised if corporations do deals with their bankers that help enrich them both. Since the companies have to stop any buying during these three to four week windows, it would not surprise me if they and their bank both buy call options on their own stocks just before the blackout period begins. Then, during this time when they can’t buy, their bankers get aggressive in buying up the shares to keep the stocks’ supported, knowing that once the blackout period ends, the companies will get aggressive in buying again to raise the stock price even higher to allow the bankers to take profits on the shares they bought during the blackout period. The companies don’t mind paying a higher price because the extra premium they paid is offset by the profits from having bought call options before the blackout went into effect. Win, win, all around. Just a thought, since the criminal bankers get away with so much already.