....the US central bank - which is also buying corporate bonds and junk bond ETFs - remains the first and last line of defense for any equity drawdown.

As an aside, and for those asking why the Fed continues to "confuse" markets with the economy, the answer is simple: since the value of financial assets in the US economy at a record 620%+ of GDP, for the Fed capital markets are the functional equivalent of the economy since a market crash would destroy the highly financialized US economy, and thus can never be allowed.