I don't think anybody knows what any of this means. There's just so much that could go wrong at once, that governments might lose the ability to manipulate things.
I'm wondering if a lot of people aren't taking some money out of riskier things, and not putting much new money in stocks or bonds. Having some money aside, paying things off, and buying supplies a bit ahead of time for winter might be cutting down on investments.
It just feels weird, and nobody seems to have much of an explanation about why the market has been so strange this week.
1. The market ended the third quarter at or near record highs. A lot of savvy investors have probably been selling off their holdings to lock in those returns.
2. The market might be declining even as the economy might be improving. Oil prices seem to be in a free-fall, driven mainly by the strengthening of the U.S. dollar. Why would the U.S. dollar be getting stronger as the stock market declines? A share of Company X might be "worth" more in U.S. dollars today than it was last week even as the dollar-denominated price of that share has fallen.