Barry Ritholtz, Columnist

What's Your Stock Market Story?

Whenever we see any sort of disruption in markets an explanation usually follows.

April 11, 2014 at 12:07 PM UTC

Barry Ritholtz is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”

There is great value in all the explanations for why the stock market has tanked. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Whenever we see any sort of disruption in markets an explanation usually follows. The headlines will explain that "Markets are going up/down because of this good/bad thing." News anchors will solemnly intone why the volatility is significant and what it means for one thing or another.

None of these casual explanations can withstand close examination. They are often things that have existed for months or years, and so can't account for what happened yesterday.