Robert Folsom: The Missing Link

Please consider these headlines.

Associated Press
Stocks Decline on Surge in Oil Prices
Thursday August 12, 10:34 pm ET
By Michael J. Martinez, AP Business Writer

Associated Press
Stocks Close Higher on Rising Oil Prices
Friday August 13, 8:15 pm ET
By Michael J. Martinez, AP Business Writer

No, you did not read a misprint. The headlines are real.

Yes, both stories came from the same AP Business Writer on consecutive days this past August.

And, yes, the two headlines amount to an absurd contradiction: One claims stocks fell because of rising oil prices, while a day later the other says stocks rose because of rising oil prices. Yet, as I said, the headlines introduced real news articles (both articles were still available this afternoon in Yahoo's financial news archive).

You don't often see an example as laughable and logic-free as the headlines above, but that doesn't mean I'm unfairly exploiting an error or a rare exception. When it comes to how Wall Street and the media explain the stock market, absurd logic is the rule.

There really is no telling what you'll come across when you get your information from sources which argue that external causes are driving the stock market's internal trend.