According to this article, the market did not do well yesterday, and the primary reason was that indicators such as falling consumer confidence, housing prices, and inflation in other sectors induced people to stop spending and further injure the economy thus lowering the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This may seem to make perfect sense, on the surface, but why?

In other economics courses I have taken, a widely-held theory is that there is “no cash left on the table” - meaning that if there is information or opportunities to be had (and timing is important), and others have found about it first, that the opportunity is now gone. When these reports come out, and the everyday small-time stock trader reads about it, theoretically, all of the surplus that information held is now already gone and these people are then perpetuating a trend whose utility has all but dried up. This is where you see the “cascade” occur - and markets bubble and burst based on the positive or negative nature of the news, regardless if its accurate.

In this way, reports, especially those given weight by the media, become (in my opinion) immediately outdated as the content being observed immediately changes upon its observation - an uncertainty principle, in a way. As a result of this dynamic system, individuals make reactions too late, and usually create a self-fulfilling prophecy by reacting to what the media predicts will happen.