Courtesy of Pam Martens
Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the jury. You are tasked with the grave undertaking of deciding if the U.S. stock market is mentally fit to function as a barometer of the health of the U.S. economy and a gauge of the well-being of the nation in general. We will introduce evidence showing that on January 6, 2021, as a violent mob of thousands overtook police and seized control of the United States Capitol building around 2 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a new intraday high of 31,022.65. And as the grisly scenes of rioting and mayhem continued to play out on every news channel in the United States, the Dow gave up very little of its huge gains on that day, closing at 4 p.m. with a gain of 437.80 points.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this was the first time in 207 years that our nation’s Capitol was under attack and the first time in history that the attack was playing out in real time on television, and yet the U.S. stock market found it to be happy news to rally around.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we will also introduce evidence showing that the mood of the stock market can flip on a dime for no apparent reason – like that of a mentally unstable person. Over the last few years, these sudden reversals have become the norm, rather than the exception. Just yesterday, the Dow had fallen sharply from the opening bell at 9:30 a.m. and then at 10:44 a.m. it reversed course suddenly and began a sharp upward move.
On other days, the Dow can appear to be completely psychotic, like this chart from October 13, 2020.
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