No consensus on why the market dropped

Hal Morris, who writes on the grumpyeditor.com blog, took a look at this morning’s coverage of Monday’s markets and wonders what’s going on.

Morris wrote, “Pity business writers of stock market action. Looking for reasons behind daily movements require constant development of fresh phrases. Yesterday’s 88.37 drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average — biggest in two months — brought these various explanations.

“Wall Street Journal Online: Stocks slid Monday despite a lack of significant negative news, led by continued weakness in the technology sector and exacerbated by a downgrade to Dow component Boeing.

“Reuters: Stocks declined Monday as investors sold off big-name technology stocks amid concerns about the sector’s outlook, while blue chip aircraft maker Boeing Co.. sank on a brokerage downgrade.

“Associated Press: Wall Street stumbled lower Monday as growing concerns over technology companies led jittery investors to pull money out of the market ahead of this week’s earnings reports.”

See more examples of confused coverage here. What does Morris conclude? “Grumpy Editor recalls the days when two words summed up market action when there was no consensus: profit-taking.”