I don't know whether to laugh or punch someone. Now, after they helped push us into this absurd deficit deal, that's going to hurt economic growth and kill jobs, Wall Street has suddenly realized that economic growth and jobs are actually more critical than the deficit.
Oh, and why are they particularly worried about the economy going south? BECAUSE OF THE PASSAGE OF THE DEFICIT DEAL. Again, priceless. They'll be lucky if the market turns around in the next half hour. Not so lucky, it ends up. Tthere are clearly jitters about both the economy and this deal. From The Street:
Stocks were trading at session lows Tuesday afternoon with major U.S. equity indexes losing more than 1% as market jitters about the health of the economy took precedent over the passage of legislation to raise the debt ceiling.
President Barack Obama signed the last-minute compromise into law Tuesday afternoon, averting what could have been a disastrous U.S. default, but signs that U.S. consumers are reining in spending reignited fears that the recovery is losing steam. Uncertainty stemming from the European debt crisis was also adding to growth concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 185 points, or 1.5%, at 11,948. The S&P 500 was 24 points lower, or 1.8%, at 1264, and the Nasdaq was off by 53 points, or 2%, at 2691.
The debt deal itself is also stoking some of the nervousness about the likelihood of a double-dip recession since the bill requires a deep pullback in government spending at a time when economic data is pointing to an increasingly sluggish economy.
No one could have predicted that. Oh wait, we all did. Repeatedly. (More on the impact of the debt deal on the economy here - the tune of a potential 1.5% point drop in GDP next year, which would be disastrous.)
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