In a USA Today email I received 20 minutes after Tuesday's closing bell, I was informed that the exceptionally good day occurred because the stock markets were "buoyed by strong earnings reports by IBM, Coke and others." A visit to the email's linked article also partially attributed the rise to "renewed hopes that U.S. lawmakers would be able to break their stalemate and strike a deficit-reduction deal in time to avert a catastrophic government default."
That's strange, because the CNN Headline email I had received 20 minutes earlier struck a totally different and completely absurd pose, as seen after the jump:
According to CNN, USA Today obviously had no idea what it was talking about. Investors don't look at silly things like reported earnings results at key companies. No-no-no. What matters is what Barack Obama does on any given day. Today it was his "boost," and only his "boost," which drove the markets to their best day in eight months.
Annalyn Censky's related report at CNNMoney.com is an embarrassment:
The Dow industrials staged their strongest one-day rally of the year Tuesday after President Obama indicated that lawmakers are closer to reaching an agreement on raising the debt ceiling.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.6%, or 202 points -- its largest rise of 2011. Of its 30 components, 27 were in the black.
"Obama came on television and it seemed like there was significant progress on the debt ceiling," said Phil Streible, senior market strategist with Lind-Waldock. "Suddenly there was a lot of optimism."
Question for CNN: Was this before or after he parted the Red Sea, began cooling the earth, and made water into wine?
Inconvenient fact for Annalyn Censky: Hours before Obama spoke, the Dow opened about 115 points higher than yesterday's close and basically held steady until the president appeared. Roughly 55% of the day's gains were already there when Obama worked his alleged magic. Zheesh.
Is it any wonder that so many relatively disengaged voters still think the guy is doing an acceptable job?
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
