CoffeeHouser ‘Ben G’ had it right in his comment underneath my earlier post: 24 hour news really does struggle in the face of
economic crisis. This morning, all the talk was of a debt-induced apocalypse. Earlier this afternoon, the headlines were about the markets “rallying” after better-than-expected data on
the US labour market. And now the BBC website’s main headline is that “turmoil in the stock market persists,” despite those very
same labour market figures. Oh yes, it’s difficult to present a consistent front as the money merchants sway and buckle in the breeze.
That said, the economic fundamentals remain discouraging. It shouldn’t be forgotten that yesterday’s losses were extraordinary; in many cases, the worst since the early days of the Credit Crunch. And they have generally been compounded today. Despite a small boost from the US jobs news, released around 1330 this afternoon, the FTSE 100 index is still on track for a decline over the trading day:
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