SEC ArTiFiCiAlLy PrOpS Up ThE StOcK MaRkEt

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued several orders the past few days regarding short sales of stock. Today the SEC issued another emergency order preventing short stock sales from and to a long list of institutions until October 2. This effectively will give the appearance that the stock market has stabilized, when in fact it is still going to sell off once the short sale restrictions are removed.
There are two ways to trade stock: long and short. A long stock trade is a "buy." A long position is when a person "buys" a stock when a stock is going up, and makes money when they sell it higher, and loses money when it goes lower. A short stock trade is a "sell." A short position, is the one being regulated by the SEC right now, and it is when a person "sells" a stock that is going down, and makes money when they allow someone else to "buy" that stock on the way down, and they lose money if the stock rises above the price they sold it at. A short sale is the opposite of a buy or purchase. This allows for there to be two sides to the stock market.
The bottom line is this, the markets are going to go a lot lower, so stay out of the stock market. Once housing appears to be recovering, which could be several years from now, that would be the time to invest in the stock market again safely.