Stock Coverage
Wall St.'s big comeback is everybody's lead. As if to illustrate the
transitoriness of the stock market and journalism about it, the USA Today
headline--"Markets rebound"--is in the same bold type as its headline
yesterday--"Massive Sell-off." At one stroke, the Dow Jones industrial average
posted its biggest one-day gain and its heaviest volume ever--more than 75
percent greater than the previous record, which was set yesterday. One investor
pointed out to the Wall Street Journal that the 1.2 billion share volume would
have been a whole year's worth of trading in 1958.
The trading day started off down nearly 200 points, but the papers agree on
the main reasons for the mid-session turnaround: the chief strategist for
Goldman Sachs recommended that investors boost the stock portion of their
portfolios, and IBM and several other blue-chippers announced company buy-backs
of their stock. The Washington Post adds some political reasons: President
Clinton briefly interrupted a speech he was giving on education to reaffirm his
faith in the strength and soundness of the economy, and the Labor Department
issued a report about worker wages that indicates inflation remains under
control.
Ultimately, say the papers, it had to do with the decision of investors to
get back in the market (Duh. What else could it be?), which the WSJ
calls "a sweeping reaffirmation of their love affair with stocks," and the
New York Times
describes as "Main Street [riding] in yesterday to rescue Wall Street."
In general, the NYSE handled the volume glitchlessly, although, notes the
WSJ and NYT , NASDAQ ran into bottlenecks as the rally built. The
Journal also confirms yesterday's WP story that on-line trading
was hit-or-miss.
Everybody's coverage continues to focus heavily on the DJIA, which is a
basket of only 30 stocks, some of them hardly key players in the emerging world
economy, instead of broader market measures like the S&P 500.
The Los
Angeles Times front page brings the news that Jerry Brown declared his
candidacy yesterday for mayor of Oakland. The paper notes that Brown made the
announcement in the gourmet kitchen of his $2 million combination home and
workspace. No mention of whether the uniform of the day was $1500 suit or
flannel shirt and jeans.
Both USAT and the LAT have front-page pieces reporting that
the NBA has picked two female referees to work the upcoming regular season, a
decision believed to be a first for men's top-level professional sports. For
tips on what it will be like to work in a testosterone-addled workplace, the
two might want to check out the NYSE: the NYT front-page picture of
happy floor traders shows approximately 30 faces, just three of them women.
In her column today Maureen Dowd charges that in Hollywood, entertainment
pooh-bahs are "skittering away" from its recent spate of China-bashing movie
releases out of fear of losing access to Chinese markets. Similarly, the
WP runs a "Style" section piece that quotes a spokesman for MGM-United
Artists, the studio responsible for "Red Corner," which depicts an oppressive
Beijing court system, as saying, "the film is presented solely for its
entertainment value." The piece also has the marketing guy for "Seven Years in
Tibet" saying "We never thought of this as an anti-China movie."
Back to the stock market: Merrill Lynch's chief strategist tells the
WSJ today, "I'm the lousiest market timer in the history of the world."
Hmmm...don't remember seeing that in the brochure. .
