$QUALLS AND $URGES
I thought the meteorologist who first noticed the connection between the 11-year sunspot cycle and earth weather, such as aurora frequencies, was cleaver enough. But the economist who recently observed the same rhythm of highs and lows in the time-line of the financial climate was downright brilliant!
The tradition of the unlikely bedfellows, economics and weather, sharing a similar lexicon (see climate above) does seem to hint at a common origin. If one’s interest flags towards the end of the evening news, one is not sure whether the depression being announced is from Finance New of Weather Update – economic or cyclonic. Similarly with doldrums, deluge, and drought.
A barometer measures both price variations and air pressure; profits can be in a trough or stratospheric – spending can be frozen or in can thaw. Today’s ASX losses eclipsed yesterday’s gains. Dot. Com companies can inundate the market, creating a whirlwind of activity. There is either high or low pressure on interest rates. Jobs growth can be in a fog of uncertainty. A cold chill (tautology, alas) can grip consumer confidence.
A lightning strike take-over bid can lead to a storm of investor activity; which later leave all rods becalmed.
These twins in terminology, climate and finance, both seem to subscribe to the same fatalistic mantra: Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not, whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot, we’ll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether we like it or not!
Leave a Reply