Wall Street and the Influenza Puercina

OK - please explain this to me - why would the increase of Mexican deaths to the swine flu (to 150 up from 100) cause the Dow to retreat from a midday gain? What could this possibly have to do with stocks?

I know it's certainly not because the investors care about human lives - God knows they would invest in your spleen if they thought you'd croak in the next halfhour and they could harvest and sell it for a 10% profit.

Somebody explain this to me. The investors must be thinking something along the lines that a flu outbreak will somehow tighten resources, stop the normal flow of business, and threaten their money.

You know, I'm coming to think that this whole problem is not the CEO's after all. It's these investors everybody keeps talking about. And who are these "investors" anyway? Nobody ever says who they are! Just "the investors were shy on wall street today" "The investors rallied at end of day trading." "The Dow closed down sharply based on investors fears that Godzilla was stomping up the Western seaboard."

So, the Swine Flu made them jumpy. Great. You know, we truly need to get all our money out of the stock market. If you want a return in your investment, go out and start your own business. Make it successful and enjoy all the profits. Or just go out and get another job. Save everything you can in some CD somewhere. All this stuff about what makes the investors jump or slide just makes me sick to my stomach.

sorry about the rant - I gotta go now. Not feeling well. A little feverish, you might say.

Bet that makes the stocks take a dive in early morning trading tomorrow, eh?



VG