> I've stopped assuming that the stock market has any real meaning Perhaps, or perhaps the media coverage is what lacks any real meaning. With 401k's and index

> I've stopped assuming that the stock market has any real meaning Perhaps, or perhaps the media coverage is what lacks any real meaning. With 401k's and index funds, a substantial portion of the US and other countries populations are invested in the market passively, without having any real understanding of it. Hearing about the ups and downs will always be popular ways to sell attention, and the average person isn't well equipped to become meaningfully educated in market movements; until (/ if) the passive investing bubble pops, that will always be the case. I think even well intentioned, news media's coverage of the market will always be superficial with a hint of gloom and doom, because that's how we're all wired to greater and less degrees.