LOL. I have officially heard it all. I once believed that Bloomberg was a legit source of news but they, too, are blaming the sell off in equity futures on the flu.
You are just saying that because the price action is conforming to your theory. But if price diverged from your theory you too would be looking for excuses and blaming it on the flu.
The media always finds a way to rationally explain moves in the market. Profit taking is often the excuse used for a sell off on no news. That being said, news absolutely DOES matter. Remember the huge sell offs in the past 6 months? Not due to price, averages or trends but due to NEWS of terrible banks etc.
It's almost NEVER the fundamentals. It's the technicals, i.e. how the chart looks. Failure near 870 resistance invites early selling. IMHO
I remember the HYPE behind SARS, now this swine flu has entered the picture, I hate to say it, but I think its just another media hype driven event. Will get through this one just like we did SARS. IF you can short all those single digit bio tech stocks, they will be down 25-75% over the next few weeks.
Yes, swine flu is bring the market down TODAY. The market for swine (i.e. hog futures) that is. But the hogs market had been falling for several months before this flu outbreak was publicized. Do you suppose "the smart money" got tipped off back in August 2008, that a Big News Event With Major Downside Impact was going to occur in April 2009? Maybe the smart money started quietly shorting, eight months ago???