What Happened To The Stock Market?

(I thought I would try my hand at media hype and join the fray. It didn’t do anything for me, however; but it was fun trying.)

Headlines across the country were screaming over the incremental drop in the Dow Jones Averages that has not ended since February 12, 2007. Where else can you see excitement over a 4% (533 pt.) loss of equity following behind a run-up of more than 18%?

We could help drive Malox shares higher and boost TV ratings, if we dared. For example: Is the market in a correction pattern or are we headed back to 11,000. Could it be 10,000 or, worse yet, 9,000 before we get our sea legs? No doubt some creative journalist has already thought of this ploy.

One key benefit that we might consider is that recent concerns about the financial markets have provided some relief from the arcane coverage of a much less dynamic political front.

I could not resist shaking my head when reading yet another refried correlation between the market and the contest on capitol hill. This puny but visible media source stated, right on the World Wide Web, that the market needed “...a decisive direction” in the presidential race. Wait just a cotton-picking minute! What will the market need after the election is over…for Al Gore to promise he will stay out of politics forever?

Are the news crews that cover energy prices on a sabbitcal, waiting for their cue to return to work in the next few weeks? Will either Clinton or Obama have an influence on the oil markets when spot crude soars past 70? (Do elephants fly?)

Just for fun, try to imagine any one of the presidential hopefuls sitting across from Wen Jiabao next year and saying to him, “Look Ace, this is how it’s going down.”

Let’s keep it real and keep our eye on mortgage rates and energy prices until the sleeping dragon decides it’s time to eat. We are not naive about the role the media plays in stoking consumer fires. This economy has critical faults that do not make good copy for the evening news. We need to know what those weaknesses are.

More on that subject a little later on.

Hudster