In Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s interesting book The Black Swan, he talks about the “narrative fallacy,” wherein we like to confidently prescribe reasons for random events. This happens all the time in financial news. Last Thursday the stock market dropped, and the headlines said, “Buyers exit market before House debt plan vote.” The article said:
U.S. stocks faded in the afternoon on Thursday to end mostly lower, with investors skeptical a key vote by Congress would lead to a deal to avoid a U.S. default. The S&P 500 fell for a fourth straight day as buyers kept to the sidelines while lawmakers tried to hash out an agreement on the deficit.
The next day, Friday, the stock market dropped again, bringing the Dow Jones loss over the last six days to 581 points. And what did the news say? Wall St ends worst week in a year on debt stalemate. Or, Markets on edge as debt limit debate drags on:
The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 100 points, its sixth straight decline, as the U.S. edged closer to a Tuesday deadline to raise the country’s borrowing limit or risk the prospect of a debt default.
Wow. We didn’t know if Congress was gonna pass a bill to extend the debt ceiling by August 2 (even though that date was part of even more atrocious reporting), and apparently investors were worried. That was repeatedly given as the reason for the stock market going down all last week. Then Sunday night they hammered out a deal, the House passed it on Monday, the Senate passed it on Tuesday, and it got signed into law. So what happened on Tuesday, August 2?
Stocks now down for year as economic concerns grow:
The stock market fell sharply Tuesday because investors have grown increasingly worried about the economy.
Aww! So much for the buyers coming off the sidelines because the debt ceiling got raised. Now it’s just the economy! But does anybody have any doubt what the headlines would have said if the Dow had dropped 265 points today and we hadn’t passed the debt ceiling bill?