What's Happening 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%?One key benefit that we might consider is that the financial markets provided some relief from the arcane coverage of the much less dynamic political front.

We would like to contribute a few additional alarms for the sake of added distraction and higher TV ratings (as opposed to value). 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.

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?

What the media needs to do is not let the specialty crews that cover energy markets get too comfortable. Neither Clinton nor Obama will have any influence on spot crude prices when they spoar past 90. What will either of them be able to do to control oil prices? Nothing.

Here's a fun exercise for you. Try, if you will, to image any one of the presidential hopefuls sitting across from Wen Jiabao next year and saying, “Look Ace, this is how it’s going down.”

Let’s keep it real and keep an eye on energy prices and the European markets until the sleeping dragon decides it’s time to eat. We are not naive about the role the media will play in the short run. But, we had better think seriously about what’s really happening around the globe.

More on that subject a little later on.

Hudster