Whether traders are actually buying stocks, or as the case now appears to be for 12 consecutive weeks, they are not, is mostly irrelevant: even with 3 straight months of outflows from mutual funds and ETFs, the important thing is that someone is pushing the market higher, and whether that is buybacks or a massive short squeeze, the S&P is rapidly approaching the massive resistance level at 2,800 where the last three breakout attempts have fizzled.

So while technicals will surely be a major hurdle to overcome, there is a case that sends the S&P back to its all time highs around 2,950.  According to BofA chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett, while catalysts for the S&P move from 2350 to 2750 were bearish positioning and panicking policy makers, the catalysts for fresh upside to new highs would be "green shoots" & "greed" even as few see EPS acceleration, while most think the Fed is "pushing-on-a-string."

To make it easier for the bulls, Hartnett then lays out an indicative "green shoots" checklist for EPS emerging from the upcoming earnings recession, would include the following items:

US 2s10s yield curve steepens to 50bps from 16bps,

Asia export growth up 7% YoY from -2%,

global PMI up above 53.0 from 50.7 (Feb survey data poor),