MASON CITY, Iowa - For the fourth straight day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes in positive territory.
According to economics instructor Rayce Hardy with Riverland Community College, it's not too unusual for the stock market to have a rally like this when the economy seems to be down in the dumps.
Large investment firms and their computerized trading algorithms are most likely the culprits for driving the market higher. They're buying up large volumes of shares at lower prices. Individual investors, like you and me, are not enough to have an impact on the market. Hardy says not to look to the stock markets as a barometer for the economy.
"It's traders buying and selling and so they're manipulating those purchases and those sales the best they can to get the price they want," said Hardy.
Stock markets only follow a handful of large companies and don't account for the millions of small businesses across the country. A better economic indicator, according to Hardy, are the continuing unemployment claims in the United States.
Hardy also says he thinks an economic recovery is a long way off because we still don't have a coronavirus vaccine and now we have scores of small businesses that have been destroyed in rioting across the country.
