Gray Monday?

Posted By Jerome Chen Monday, September 29, 2008 - 5:00 PM Share

We've known some pretty bad days in the stock market lately, but today the S&P 500, the broadest indicator of U.S. stocks, dove 8.8 percent -- its biggest drop since 1987's infamous Black Monday. For comparison, on that day the S&P dipped 20.4 percent, the biggest on record. We have a good runner-up today, though. Whether or not the bill would put us on a "slippery slope towards socialism," our well-intentioned congressmen who voted against the bailout sure aren't winning any brownie points yet -- at least not where the markets are concerned.

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4:10 AM ET

September 30, 2008

Graphic

The posting describing an 8.8 percent decline is accompanied by a graph showing what looks at first to be an 80% or so decline. What is the point of using a graph for illustration if one has to look right to the y-axis to see that it is a visual lie? It does not add information but visually conflicts with the information in the accompanying text. This is all too common in market graphics, but why repeat this artificial drama here?

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