Dead Markets for a Dying Economy

The entire range on the Dow Jones Industrials today was a bit over 47 points. For the S&P 500, 5.56 points.

It's a truly sad day when the major indices move less than four-tenths of a percent, top to bottom. It means that the now-soulless, machine-run market has gone nearly bidless as well. In the absence of any kind of data flow, the computers have nothing to do, so this is what we get... pretty much nothing.

So much for follow-on after Friday's euphoric jobs data rally, which was actually nothing more than numbers being pulled from a magician's hat.

This stock market runs on rumor and money printing and nothing more. When the Dow, S&P and the NASDAQ are 60% lower than where they are today, it might present an attractive investing opportunity. For now, it's just a mirage. Nothing about this market - from corporate earnings to government-supplied data - is real.

The fact of the matter is that America is a crippled marketplace, a stumbling, old, broken economy, but nobody is willing to admit it, at least nobody on Wall Street or in Washington.

Today was the three-year anniversary of the "flash crash" which is credited for keeping so many individual investors away from stocks. Perhaps it is a fitting reminder of that day to see no volume and little price movement. Just what the doctor ordered.

So, now you see that the market is all fixed. No big moves up or down in split seconds. Come on in a buy some stocks. They're at all time highs!

What a total farce this has become. Worthy of a Neil Simon work-up.

Dow 14,968.89, -5.07 (0.03%)
NASDAQ 3,392.97, +14.34 (0.42%)
S&P 500 1,617.50, +3.08 (0.19%)
NYSE Composite 9,345.17, +4.70 (0.05%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,452,282,625
NYSE Volume 3,214,814,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3808-2622
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 476-25
WTI crude oil: 96.16, +0.55
Gold: 1,468.00, +3.80
Silver: 23.96, +0.059