It’s another day
of volatility in the Dow, with an intraday movement of 200 points from high
to low in the space of about 90 minutes. Barry Ritholtz is hunting
for causality: is it something to do with the oil price? Chinese tech stocks?
The ECB? Perhaps it’s something to do with that perennial favorite, Turkish-Armenian
relations?
Of course in reality there is no such simple causality. The markets move, there
doesn’t need to be a reason, and in fact it’s far from obvious why
anybody even thinks that there should be a reason. Tomorrow, stocks
will go up, or they will go down, and the hunt for causality will begin anew.
When will we learn that it’s fruitless?
Update: We
have a winner! Anthony Conroy, head trader at BNY Brokerage, says that it
is…. wait for it… profit taking. Very helpful. Thank you, Mr Conroy.