RED ALERT

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:50 pm

The Dow Jones industrial average is nearing 11,000. Remember that there is nothing significant about reaching that number. If it happens, there's no reason to make a major production out of it.
The Dow isn't even a particularly significant market indicator anymore. The S&P 500-stock index is more widely recognized and, of course, it's hard to say exactly what either the Dow or S&P 500 figure represents because the component stocks change all the time.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:36 pm

The Dow closed at 11,011.90. Good luck stopping the knee-jerk reaction.

mcarlson · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:12 pm

Knees are jerking across America.

{BC-Page1 Advisory,0652
{Tuesday AMs
AP recommendations at this hour for Page One:
...
Dow Jones industrials close above 11,000 for first time since before 9/11
NEW YORK â€” The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 11,000 Monday for the first time since before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, boosted by a five-day rally that has sent stocks soaring so far in 2006. BC-Wall Street-Close. By Business Writer Christopher Wang. Optional lead planned.

Connfused · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:44 pm

Looks like it's too late ...

{BC-APNewsAlert,0033}<
NEW YORK (AP) _ The Dow Jones Industrial average has moved past 11,000 in intraday trading for the first time since before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Heartodixie · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:05 am

Connfused wrote:

Looks like it's too late ...

{BC-APNewsAlert,0033}<
NEW YORK (AP) _ The Dow Jones Industrial average has moved past 11,000 in intraday trading for the first time since before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

That made a nice Biz page brief in our paper. Luckily the people here are either so tuned in or so indifferent to business news that nobody ever bites when stories are overhyped. In my opinion, it's important to have wonks and ignorant everyfolks on the copy desk.

Connfused · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:31 pm

I was all set to do the same ... then a local biz story got shifted to A1, which forced my hand. My ME is on the same page as you guys ... the effect on the "real person" is minimal, so why go nuts for a story that makes readers' eyes glaze over?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:18 pm

Connfused wrote:

Rhe effect on the "real person" is minimal, so why go nuts for a story that makes readers' eyes glaze over?

My original point is not that the effect on the rabble is minimal. It was that the Dow crossing 11,000 has no significance.

Heartodixie · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:45 pm

Heartodixie wrote:

Connfused wrote:

Looks like it's too late ...

{BC-APNewsAlert,0033}<
NEW YORK (AP) _ The Dow Jones Industrial average has moved past 11,000 in intraday trading for the first time since before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

That made a nice Biz page brief in our paper. Luckily the people here are either so tuned in or so indifferent to business news that nobody ever bites when stories are overhyped. In my opinion, it's important to have wonks and ignorant everyfolks on the copy desk.

And of course the biz ed got hollered at by one of the big chiefs and then hollered at me this morning. I exaggerate. I was very gently told that it should have been played across the top of the page instead of at the top of the briefs column. I tried to play the former-business-reporter card to no avail.

ndugan1 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:53 pm

I laid out and edited the buisness pages yesterday. I can proudly say there was no mention of the Dow crossing 11,000, other than the closing price listed in the stock tables and graphic, where it always is. And (so far) I haven't heard a word about it.

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:24 pm

In any case, is the Dow or the NYSE or any other such thing an accurate indicator of the state of the economy? I mean, as it affects most people?

I have no head for economics; thus the question.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:40 pm

Oeditpus Rex wrote:

In any case, is the Dow or the NYSE or any other such thing an accurate indicator of the state of the economy?

By itself, no. (Almost everything connected to the economy affects everybody, of course.)

Bolder1 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:50 pm

SECTION: Financial; D01

LENGTH: 1202 words

HEADLINE: Breakthrough for the Dow;
For Stock Average, Close Is First Above 11,000 Since Before 2001 Attacks

BYLINE: Ben White, Washington Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: NEW YORK Jan. 9

Phillip Blanchard wrote:

The Dow Jones industrial average is nearing 11,000. Remember that there is nothing significant about reaching that number. If it happens, there's no reason to make a major production out of it.
The Dow isn't even a particularly significant market indicator anymore. The S&P 500-stock index is more widely recognized and, of course, it's hard to say exactly what either the Dow or &P 500 figure represents because the component stocks change all the time.

Nice try.

Le Petomane · **Posted:** Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:21 am

From TheStreet.com:

"Ridiculous though it may be, the truth is that the big numbers can have a serious psychological effect on the market. Hence the Dow Jones Industrial Average has had a persistent problem with 11,000 since the fall, piercing through the mark several times but never managing to stay above it at the close."

John Steele Gordon, a market historian and author of "The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power" once spoke on NPR about the effect of the Dow crossing 10,000 and said that because humans like big, round numbers there is always an effect on the market when one of the major indexes crosses one of those lines.

The Dow closing above 11,000 is indeed news. A good paper would, of course, put the whole thing in perspective with a nice sider. I didn't see anyone doing that. Too much trouble, no doubt.

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