Editing 1600: MarketWatch

{{comic
| number    = 1600
| date      = November 6, 2015
| title     = MarketWatch
| image     = marketwatch.png
| titletext = Markets have been rocked by a second day of uncertainty after someone set up a giant Ouija board on the NYSE wall controlled collectively by the movement of the stock tickers.
}}

==Explanation==
DC is {{w|Washington, D.C.}} The DC skyline shown here has the {{w|Lincoln Memorial}}, the {{w|Washington Monument}} (an obelisk) and the {{w|United States Capitol}}, which are located in a line down the {{w|National Mall}}.  The Washington Monument is not equidistant from the other two, so it would not be possible to get a view of the skyline that exactly matches the line shown.

{{w|MarketWatch}} is a web site focused on stocks and the {{w|Dow Jones Industrial Average}} (DJIA as written on the screen), commonly referred to as the Dow, is a {{w|stock market index}}, meaning that it is a general indicator of how the market is running (in this case, an aggregate of how 30 major industrial companies are doing). The stock market is famous for having unpredictable price swings, but for them to specifically make a tracing of the skyline of Washington, D.C. (or any recognizable image) would definitely weird out most investors.

As seen in [[276: Fixed Width]], unusual patterns can be addictive to the point of harming those involved in the pattern's creation. The joke, however, rests in the fact that stock investors probably have a lot at stake, so following a pattern rather than pursuing gains would be uncharacteristic.  Although some investors follow superstitious behavior (such as making trades to follow a pattern rather then make more obvious profits), many trades are now made by automated computer systems, which may recognize some types of patterns, but would not recognize the DC skyline, making it impossible for the stock market to continue to follow such a pattern merely because of the efforts of the <i>human</i> traders.

Buying and selling stocks based on patterns in the price charts is a common, but controversial, method of investing. Many {{w|day trader}}s and some professional investors still use stock patterns ({{w|head and shoulders (chart pattern)|head and shoulders}}, {{w|trend line (technical analysis)|trend lines}}, etc.) to make trades (see for instance [http://www.investopedia.com/university/charts/ Analyzing Chart Patterns]). Most professional investors and finance academics believe that this practice is random (see strong and weak {{w|efficient markets hypothesis}}).
                                                
In the title text it is noted that the markets again has been shaken by uncertainty (for the second day running, after the DC skyline incidence from the main comic). This time it was because someone at NYSE (the {{w|New York Stock Exchange}}) had set up a giant {{w|Ouija}} board that was controlled by the movement of the stock tickers. (Thus collectively as everyone at NYSE has influence on those.)

The ouija is also known as a spirit board, a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no" and a possibly a few other. A movable indicator indicates a spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance.

{{w|Ticker tape}} was an early way of transmitting stock price, and it was run through a '''stock ticker''' which printed abbreviated company names as alphabetic symbols followed by numeric stock transaction price and volume information. Today this has been replaced with electronics but the concept of the stock ticker lives on, however, in the scrolling electronic tickers seen on brokerage walls and on financial television networks.

Of course if the stock exchange begins to look to spirit boards people will get worried (also maybe by the cryptic messages from beyond they are receiving via the stock ticker) explaining the uncertainty. Of course some people might claim that this is not so far from how stock brokers decides what to do anyway…

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is a news presenter reporting on the days price swings in the DOW. To the left of her is a chart showing how the index suddenly went from "random" to tracing out Washington DC's sky line starting with the Lincoln Memorial, then the obelisk of the Washington Monument and finally the United States Capitol. After that the index goes back to normal "randomness". Two words are written at the top of the screen to the left and right:]
:MarketWatch
:DJIA

:Ponytail:
::Wild swings on the markets today 
::as investors noticed the DOW was
::tracing out a silhouette of the DC
::skyline, and everyone got too weirded
::out to break the pattern until they
::finished the capitol building.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Charts]]