Why all the bad news?

March 19, 2021 | Jeremy Goldfarb


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Because it sells, that's why. As the blog title ask, why does every headline suck? 

 

It turns out that the old express of "bad news sells" is true. Have you ever clicked on a headline promising something terrible, only to find yourself saying "meh...that wasn't really so bad"?

 

Back in 2014, a Russian news site ran only positive news across the board. The result? Readership plummeted by two thirds in a staggering single day drop. While small sample size, the conclusion is interesting. In markets and economic news, I don't think the result would be any different. Imagine you open up CNBC, or BNN or the WSJ, and all you saw was "markets stable"..... "economy looks decent"....."no trouble on the horizon".....would you jump to look at your portfolio or just go one with your day? Counter that with headlines saying "The SP500 is going to get cut in half".....or "Huge Increase in Rates will Crush Growth".......

 

The point is, that we do not let headlines dictate how the portfolios are managed, but that does not mean the phone does not rink all the time with questions around the day to day news cycle and how it impacts what we are doing. Food for thought....see the table below. 

 

 

Thanks one of my new favorite RBC writers (Matt Carthy) for catching this one.