"Dow Moves Randomly for No Special Reason"

Borrowed Kevin Drum's quote for title. He "was griping about the kind of dumbo financial reporting that pretends there's a reason for every tiny change in the stock market. Some days it's "Dow Drops on Kazakhstan Potassium Worries," other days it's "Dow Drops After Dem Takeover of Congress." Both are about equally meaningful.

But guess what? The Dow set a new record today! So how did CNN explain this peculiar state of affairs? Here's their subhead today:

Techs lead turnaround as investors move beyond possible Democratic control of Congress

Yes, you read that right. Not "Dow Moves Randomly for No Special Reason." Not "Dow Welcomes Democratic Victory." Not "Dow Higher on Hopes of Iraq Withdrawal."

Nope. The mind readers at CNN decided that in the space of just a few hours investors had both panicked and recovered over the dire threat to the economy posed by Nancy Pelosi. Crikey."