Critical Reasoning

Since it has become known that several of a bank's top executives have been buying shares in their own bank, the bank's depositors, who had been worried by rumors that the bank faced impending fi nancial collapse,have been greatly relieved. They reason that, since top executives evidently have faith in the bank's financial soundness, those worrisome rumors must be false. Such reasoning might well be overoptimistic, however, since corporate executives have been known to buy shares in their own company in a calculated attempt to dispel negative rumors about the company's health.
In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?
(A) The fi rst describes evidence that has been taken as supporting a conclusion; the second gives a reason
for questioning that support.
(B) The fi rst describes evidence that has been taken as supporting a conclusion; the second states a contrary
conclusion that is the main conclusion of the argument.
(C) The fi rst provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument; the second states that
conclusion.
(D) The fi rst describes the circumstance that the argument as a whole seeks to explain; the second gives the
explanation that the argument seeks to establish.
(E) The fi rst describes the circumstance that the argument as a whole seeks to explain; the second provides
evidence in support of the explanation that the argument seeks to establish.