3rd Qtr 2007: A Doom and Gloom Case Study

Surprise. The latest statistics show that the United States economy grew at an annualized 4.9% in the 3rd quarter of 2007.  You would have never guessed it from the tone of the media.  During the 3rd quarter of 2007 the media maintained its steady drizzle of reporting on how bad things were getting.  I took some time to capture some of the doom and gloom.

In early August, Reuters lets us know that, "Blue chips end lower as subprime worries lag" From the article's first paragraph:

"U.S. blue-chip stocks fell on Friday, capping a week of wild swings, as losses related to subprime debt loomed amid attempts by the Federal Reserve to dispel anxiety about the financial system's stability."

Yes friends, we were told things were getting dark. The Federal Reserve was trying to dispel fears that the financial system was no longer stable, but to no avail, the markets declined anyway. Thank you, Reuters.

USA Today, America's most read newspaper, reported in September that, "Job losses, recession fears hammer stocks; Dow sheds 250" According to USA Today:

"The culprit was the August jobs report, which startled investors because it unexpectedly fell for the first time since 2003. That raises anxiety that the mortgage/housing/credit mess has spread to the broader economy despite claims to the contrary from many corners of Wall Street and Washington."

Darn those "many corners of Wall Street and Washington," they are not being straight with us! Of course, USA Today later reported that the August jobs report was revised upwards to the reflect the creation of 89,000 jobs in that month. For some reason this rather positive news was reported under the inexplicably negative headline, "Treasurys plunge after jobs data"

If you have a good example of 3rd quarter doom and gloom. Drop a link in the comments below.