Wednesday’s volume was distorted by huge market on close orders for an index rebalancing and end of month shifts. As the closing bell began to ring, the volume was 960 million. The final was 1.6 billion so over 40% was due to on close orders.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/12/rally-volume-distortion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29

Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.