Ignoring the Stock Market

This is what a yawn sounds like. The Dow's down 450 points, the S&P 500 is off more than 6% -- and this news, if it can be called news, is nowhere to be seen on the NYT's home page. Over at wsj.com, it's there, but somewhat less important than a story about Ford maybe selling Volvo. At FT.com it's much the same story: the official designation that the current recession began a year ago, and the utterly unsurprising nomination of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, are (rightly) considered more important than a stock-market move which even a few months ago would have been considered grounds for serious concern.

It's a slow news day, and there's nothing which could reasonably be considered able to move markets this much -- yet that doesn't stop markets from swinging wildly. Just imagine, however, what people would be saying if the Clinton nomination hadn't been flagged in advance. Stocks plunge on Clinton news! Hell, I'm sure someone's going to try it. But it does go to show how useless market reports are.