In this case, though, they will be acting only as market makers, i.e. just brokering sales and purchases, not actually taking positions themselves (for the most

In this case, though, they will be acting only as market makers, i.e. just brokering sales and purchases, not actually taking positions themselves (for the most part), meaning that whether they believe in it or not only matters in their analyst recommendations, which are completely separate from the trading desk anyway.