No News is Good News

Sir Hector Sants, one of the most senior bankers of the day, has been forced to temporarily step down as head of UK banking giant Barclays due to stress and exhaustion. The news has left investors more than a little wary, and share prices are set to dip in the wake of the announcement reflecting a dip in confidence. In this respect, the stock market is intrinsically linked to our media outlets, and prices may be affected regardless of the authenticity of media reports.

After the tragic death of the great innovator Steve Jobs, Apple shares dropped a hefty 5% proving in no small measure that the media are equally blessed and cursed with a degree of control over the volatile markets. The fact that Steve Jobs’ death bore no real relation to Apple’s fortunes (he had resigned some months earlier), is besides the point. The real story here is the attention garnered by the media which leads to a “flock” mentality.

Rumour Has it

More recently, after a falsified account of an attack on the White House was published on a respected news outlet’s Twitter account, the markets went into panic mode and a subsequent free-fall. An unprecedented 143 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was caused by nothing more than 140 characters reporting that the US president was injured in blasts within the capital.

The power of the media can be a frightening thing and it is made particularly relevant in the stock market due to the volatile and fast paced nature of the industry. Big news stories can lead to big wins but also big losses, and so it literally pays to be at the forefront of the information age. Whether it’s cyber attacks or genuine journalism that affects the markets, the results are the same and so keeping an eye on stock quote shares is half of the battle.

And so it seems that, in the world of stocks and shares whilst no news may be good news, detailed reports covering up to the minute share prices and investing the time to watch carefully over them is the greatest news.