I was just off by one decimal place. Interestingly, market futures are up on various earnings reports. Investors have blown off the GDP report as irrelevant apparently.
I had not appreciated how imports count as negative GDP, thanks for that item.
I have wondered for a long time what happens when investors sell stocks to the extent the market drops a lot. The sellers get money of course, and then they ... park it somewhere? A money market fund generally is where it goes initially. But other investors are taking money from somewhere to buy the securities, so it kind of nets out to zero. Except that on "Monday", a stock is worth $100 per share and on Tuesday it's worth $90. So where did that $10 go exactly? Paper losses, I know. If extreme is can generate margin calls. I surmise there is no "conservation of monetary value". When markets go up, more "wealth" (on paper) is generated, and vice versa. Folks see their 401k figures and feel better, or worse.
I was working in the 2008-9 debacle and figured it meant I would have to work 3-4 years longer than I hoped. It turned out the market recovered mostly and I retired about on time.
I figure folks are more apt to spend other monies if heir 401ks look flush, and vice versa.
