Yesterday the stock market had a major sell-off, with the Dow closing down more than 500 points. The broadcast and cable news organizations all followed the drop closely, but none as closely as the three business news networks, CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business Network.
The Cutline’s Dylan Stableford asks, did media coverage of the market have an effect on the market itself?
While the coverage may have been bearish and somber, the analysts Stableford spoke to all agree: the media probably didn’t have any effect whatsoever:
Dan Gross, economics editor at Yahoo! Finance, agreed.
“A huge chunk of volume–and hence momentum–is now driven by machines, computers and algorithmic trading,” Gross said. “And the computers definitely aren’t watching cable news.”
“Market activity driven largely by professionals, who are watching their data screens and usually have CNBC on with the sound off,” Gross said. “They’re not listening to what the hosts are saying.
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