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==
A news anchor is reporting on the day's price swings on the stock market. It has been noticed that the Dow index has traced out the DC skyline.

{{w|MarketWatch}} (as written above the skyline) is a website focused on stocks. The DJIA (as written on the screen) is the {{w|Dow Jones Industrial Average}}, commonly referred to as the Dow. It 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 a skyline (or any recognizable image) would definitely weird out most investors. The DJIA has been featured previously in [[426: Geohashing]].

DC refers to {{w|Washington, D.C.}} The DC skyline shown here traces out the {{w|Lincoln Memorial}}, the {{w|Washington Monument}} (an obelisk) and the {{w|United States Capitol}}, which are located in that order in a line down the {{w|National Mall}}. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Dcskyln1.jpg This], [http://www.layoverguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Washington-DC-skyline.jpg this], [http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I00004v1SZxPZAxo/fit=1000x750/Skyline-Washington-DC-3306.jpg this] and some of [https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1301&bih=673&q=dc+skyline&oq=dc+skyline&gs_l=img.3..0l10.1721.5440.0.5786.10.7.0.3.3.0.151.589.5j2.7.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.10.606.kO5p26O4PSE these] photos show the skyline depicted in the comic.

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 than 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, everyone at the NYSE, as all have some 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 possibly a few others. 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 {{w|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 in the scrolling electronic tickers seen on brokerage walls and on financial television networks.

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 decide what to do anyway…

==Transcript==
:[A blonde longhaired female news anchor reports on the day's 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 skyline 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

:News anchor: 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.

==Trivia==

The general idea of manipulating the DJIA for goals unrelated to financial gains reminds of the [[426: Geohashing|Geohashing]] [http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Bill_Gates_achievement Bill Gates achievement].

The Washington Monument was also part of the game in [[1608: Hoverboard]], just left of the starting area.

Patterns in the stock market are also topic of [[2101: Technical Analysis]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Stock Market]]