As we all know, the public has really not participated in the stock market since the 2008 credit and banking crisis. Since that point in time, the public has developed even more of a sour taste for Wall Street. Events such as the flash clash, LIBOR manipulation by the banks, high frequency trading manipulation..

Experienced traders recognize that volume typically dries up going into the holiday season. Light volume and the holiday seasonality generally push equity prices higher. The discussion of whether Santa Claus comes to Wall Street has arrived in earnest.

On Tuesday November 8th, Piedmont Community Bank Holdings (a privately owned bank holding company) announced a tender offer for shares of Crescent Financial (NASDAQ:CRFN), a bank holding company that owns Crescent State Bank at $4.75 per share in cash. The tender offer expires December 7 2011.

The S&P 500 must have taken notice of the multitude of headlines coming at market participants and proceeded on a path of pure chaos. Since October 4th, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) managed to trade in a range that spanned from 1,074 to as high as 1,171 in 4 days.