It seems a little weird how much attention ordinary people pay to the Dow. Hasn't it been up to its pre-recession levels for like 2 years, yet economic growth still pretty slow? Plus, we had a better than expected jobs growth report on Friday. It seems like people assign too much importance to the Dow and other stock market indices because these are the most prominent numbers, and they change constantly. Stuff like GDP growth, unemployment rates etc., come out what, 4 times a year? There's this strong psychological impact behind the stock market numbers that doesn't really correlate to reality.
The other thing I don't understand is why the STOCK market would tank as a result of a downgrade in United States government BOND ratings. The Dow is a measure of the performance of stocks by private companies; Friday's downgrade was a hit to government issued bonds, which today are doing pretty well. Seems kind of ironic.
But then, I'm no economist. Maybe I'm missing something.
I'm sure times are tough, but I swear, all news seems to thrive on being pessimistic. To read the news lately, you'd think nobody in America had a good job with a steady income. You'd think we were ALL teetering on the brink.