Toro
Diamond Member
The market got hammered today, in big part to the jobs report, which was weaker than expected.
On Wednesday, both Obama and Biden were out talking up the economy, saying that the jobs report was going to be good. When the market got wind of that, stocks spiked, finishing very strong. On Thursday, several Wall Street economists lifted their estimates on the number of jobs they thought would be reported, and stocks followed through on the good day Wednesday, showing decent gains.
Today, jobs came in weaker than expected. Stocks were hammered and gave up all their gains over the past two days and then some.
Stocks did not go down solely on the jobs report. The euro fell 2 cents - a huge amount in the currency markets - on continuing worries in Europe. However, there is no doubt that the market believed that the President and the VP got wind of the jobs numbers, which caused people to buy.
This is bush league stuff. The President nor the VP should never be commenting about pending economic data. It whipsawed investors and creates unnecessary volatility in the markets. The Bush administration had a policy never to comment on any upcoming releases. That is the right policy.
I hedged out most of my equity exposure Wednesday morning, and got scalded on the short side as the market rip higher into the close. I recovered on my shorts today, but I'd be enormously pissed if I had reacted to the market's movements over the past few days.
On Wednesday, both Obama and Biden were out talking up the economy, saying that the jobs report was going to be good. When the market got wind of that, stocks spiked, finishing very strong. On Thursday, several Wall Street economists lifted their estimates on the number of jobs they thought would be reported, and stocks followed through on the good day Wednesday, showing decent gains.
Today, jobs came in weaker than expected. Stocks were hammered and gave up all their gains over the past two days and then some.
Stocks did not go down solely on the jobs report. The euro fell 2 cents - a huge amount in the currency markets - on continuing worries in Europe. However, there is no doubt that the market believed that the President and the VP got wind of the jobs numbers, which caused people to buy.
This is bush league stuff. The President nor the VP should never be commenting about pending economic data. It whipsawed investors and creates unnecessary volatility in the markets. The Bush administration had a policy never to comment on any upcoming releases. That is the right policy.
I hedged out most of my equity exposure Wednesday morning, and got scalded on the short side as the market rip higher into the close. I recovered on my shorts today, but I'd be enormously pissed if I had reacted to the market's movements over the past few days.