Al-Qaeda link to slow traders

[0007]

15mar04

REPORTS linking the Madrid bombing to the Al Qaeda terrorist network could play havoc with global markets.

The markets had enjoyed a recovery on Friday when Basque separatists were blamed for the attack and it appeared to be only a Spanish problem.

Shaw Stockbroking's Bruce Wookey said Al Qaeda's connection would make it a global problem, further undermining confidence.

"Australia will probably follow the rest of the world at the beginning of the week, but by the end of the week we should refocus on domestic news," he said.

Westpac senior economist Huw McKay was confident that it would not stop the Australian market from reaching a record high in the near future.

Interesting.....more

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,8965558%255E462,00.html

[pinto]

1. I'd read an analysis that held one of al-Qaeda's goals were economic,

hence WTC attack.....simplistic, but believable. in a weird way, now, fear of terrorism, trumpeted by the admin daily, plays into that thesis.

[0007]

2. 'Tis believable to me, I've read the same thing sometime before 911

[Turbineguy]

3. There were indications already on Thursday

that it was an Al-Qeada job....

[Old and In the Way]

4. Can someone direct to the Al Qaeda playing card deck

Surely, after fighting them for the past 3 years, we must know who the top 52 are.....

[rapier]

5. Market rises on Al Qaeda news

News doesn't move markets. For a day or two yes, but beyond that unless it is stupendous news, like meteor hits Wall Street, news events don't cause markets to move.

I know this goes against everything you have ever heard and hear every day and won't belive me. So it goes.

If the stock market is up Monday, a distinct possibility, do you think you will see this headline. "Market rises on news of Al Qaeda link to Madrid." Of course not. You will hear that only if it goes down. Every day they pick a story that conforms with the market direction and sell it to us. Usually using the phrase 'investors bought/sold today on'. This is a rich vein of BS. There are no longer investors. Not enough to account for much anyway. Trillions of dollars fly around the globe on specualtion. Part of this is human nature, always seeking simple causes and also loveing stories. That is all they are however, stories.

I will leave you with this ghoulish observation. Stories of death often are coincident with up markets. Note that I say coincident. Remember these stories take incidents which are coincident and brand them causal. Still, watch for this in future. It can be eerie.

[yella_dawg]

6. For several years, I've been trying to correlate the news

financial and otherwise, to the behavior of the markets. So far as I've been able to tell, there is none. An economic indicator that "drives the market up" one month can "drive the market down" a few months later, due to similar behaviors in the indicator. The same kind of behavior has been noted for general news. One disaster tanks the market for a week, a similar disaster is ignored. I've determined that the markets are only affected by highly specific news items (fire shuts down a major digital chip manufacturer) and the rest is imagined by financial reporters.

More to the point, the stock market reeks of a "setup" if you try to learn about it through observation of its general behavior.

[0007]

8. It sure appears to me also that there is a lot of fixing going on -

[bemildred]

10. Surely you jest.

It's just all those little people buying a share or
two now and then, isn't it? The Free Enterprise System(tm)
at work for the good of all of us?

But seriously, it's just like Vegas, it's rigged. The problem
is to figure out what TPTB are going to do next and ride along.

Edit: the currency markets are especially amusing to watch lately.

[bemildred]

7. I was very interested last year when

the markets took off like a striped-ass ape when we started
the war. I believe the explanation at the time was
"the markets don't like uncertaintly, now we know we are
at war".

[swag]

9. Robert Shiller has the most devastating attack

on news "moving the markets" in his classic "Irrational Exuberance," which presaged the pop of the bubble.

He also has a bit of fun at the expense of psycho-Suze Orman.

[bemildred]

11. Well, they always talk things up.

It like a High School football game, root-for-your-side
no-matter-what kind of deal. You just know selling your
shares is a morally bankrupt thing for you to do.