Coincidence?

So yesterday's 200 point drop in the Dow Jones happened on Oct 1st, but is that why the index fell, just because it was October? No, new economic reports that came out yesterday caused traders to think that the economic recovery ahead may not be as strong as previously thought. Now no one really had predicted that the economic recovery from this recession would be strong, but new data seems to indicate that it may be worse than expected. Does that make sense? If you follow the stock market for very long, one thing you will learn is that economists are known for changing their minds a lot. They are not a group to take responsibility for previous statements either. They will merely state that "new data" has led them to take a different view that they had before. Today, the US Labor Department is scheduled to release their monthly jobs report. Depending on how the numbers look relative to previous reports, the stock market could drop further, or go back up. This is the nature of the stock market on a daily basis.