The Dow was up slightly when the news hit The Street that GDP growth was a whopping 4% in the second quarter.  That’s good news, right?  But, the Dow promptly drops a hundred points on that good news.  Why, because a stronger economy means the Fed is more likely to raise interest rates sooner, instead of later.  And, that’s bad news . . . huh?

The Argentine government announces they will default on their debt.  Yet, the Argentine stock market went up, while the U.S. stock market went down.  Does that make sense?  As a result, Argentina will likely be locked out of the world’s capital markets for years, but their country will NOT be stripped of all its liquidity right now, which was a big relief in that country, fueling their rally.  In the U.S., however, an Argentine default means the whole arena of international finance, which is dominated by the U.S.,  will now be clouded by this default, which is not really more than a technical default, but it greatly increased uncertainty.  And, we know that increased uncertainty is bad for the stock market.

Maybe, there is pure good or pure evil in this world . . . but, it is not that simple on Wall Street.