Buffett pushes market up story line seems forced

Marek Fuchs of TheStreet.com writes Wednesday that all of the business media coverage of Tuesday’s stock market gains being due to billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s bid to bail out municipal bond insurers seemed a bit forced.

Fuchs wrote, “Well, both MBIA and Ambac were down by more than 15% yesterday. So, um, let me try to get my pretty little head around this — the stock market was so excited that Warren Buffett was going to save municipal bonds, essentially the least of its worries, that it went up one whole percent, while taking the companies Buffett is throwing the lifeline to down 15%.

“Funny thing is, you can always tell when story lines are forced and reasoning is running off the rails. That’s because in the offending articles (and the business media is littered with them at this moment) you can spot the verbal contortions a mile off. Savvy investors are advised to look for such gymnastics in market movement articles (and all others).

“The New York Post all but pressed for sainthood for Buffett, crediting him with a worldwide rise in stock prices while, interestingly enough, allowing that he put up a ‘relatively measly $5 billion in startup cash.’ But guess what? The plunge in prices of MBIA and Ambac is not even mentioned. Not once. Instead we get an unequivocal headline: ‘BUFFETT’S BOND PLAN GIVES MARKETS A LIFT.'”

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