Barrons: Three Reasons the Dow Is Climbing After 33 Million Americans Lost Their Jobs

This article in Barrons actually provides many more than three reasons why the stock market is rising despite the fact 33 million Americans are finding themselves jobless.

The real reason is that there is at most a tenuous connection between the two.  People say, “Well, the stock market isn’t the economy.”  That’s for sure.

Stock prices are a function of perceived future earnings.  If that picture looks rosy entirely in the absence of human beings employed and earning livings, that’s not bad for the market; it’s actually good, because it lowers short-term costs.

Americans are feeling economic misery.  If you’re looking for someone who cares, Wall Street isn’t the place.