Wall Street Greek: The Stinking Media Misled Investors Again

The media got it wrong from the very moment the data was released Friday morning. From the immediate television review of the release I watched to the multiple articles written by reporters on the subject, the October Retail Sales Report was mostly misreported. Retail sales were not bad at all in October; in fact, they met economists’ expectations when weeding out the volatile swing lower in gasoline prices (a good thing for consumers). Unfortunately, many concerned investors apparently reacted to the fast-talking media and sold off stocks, likely partly due to the reporting. That is because about the worst thing that can happen to stocks is for the economy to fall toward recession and this data point was supposed to be presenting the specter of such risk. It would be far worse than a Fed rate hike, and it likely helped stocks significantly lower on Friday. Fortunately, the truth is retail sales were healthy in October. See the full report on how the stinking media screwed over investors again here.

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