Market participants need to recall from time to time why derivatives markets exist. It´s about hedging for the large players and about minimizing stock and index volatility.
During times of stress, fund managers ( and execution traders ) are more willing to pull the trigger than during times of positive news flows.
Of course, mutual fund managers use derivatives also to spice up their performance ( in Europe and Germany it´s rather limited due to investment policy and regulative restrictions ).
Anyway, we are now at a critical point of the index markets. Will sovereign debts have a significant influence on company profits ?
Well, I don´t think so in the short term ( next 8-12 weeks ). But the next weeks macro data will give us a clue where we are heading.