The Death of the Newspaper

The AP details:

Circulation at newspapers shrank at an accelerated pace in the past six months, driven in part by stiff price increases imposed by publishers scrambling to offset rapidly eroding advertising sales.

Average daily circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers plunged 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month stretch last year, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

As both publications indicated earlier in the month, The Wall Street Journal surpassed USA Today as the top-selling newspaper in the United States. The Journal's average Monday-Friday circulation edged up 0.6 percent to 2.02 million — making it the only daily newspaper in the top 25 to see an increase.

USA Today suffered the worst erosion in its 27-year history, dropping more than 17 percent to 1.90 million. The newspaper, owned by Gannett Co., has blamed reductions in travel for much of the circulation shortfall, because many of its single-copy sales come in airports and hotels.

The New York Times stayed in third place at 927,851, down 7.3 percent from the same period of 2008. Its Sunday edition remained the top weekend seller at 1.4 million, a decrease of 2.6 percent.

Source: ABC (hat tip The Big Picture)

Beware the Media's “Obama Rally”

The market is down. It must be Obama.

The market is up. It must be Obama.

Tuesday, after the market sold off more than 300 points the Kansas City Star reported:

The dawn of the Obama presidency could not shake the stock market from its dejection over the rapidly deteriorating state of the banking industry.

While the Wall Street Journal went the opposite direction:

Problems with overseas banks contributed to weakness in U.S. stocks, said Alan Valdes, a floor trader with Hilliard Lyons. "It's an aberration -- I think we're going to get an Obama honeymoon rally," he said.

And after yesterday's big rally, Bloomberg hinted the honeymoon has official begun:

U.S. stocks rebounded from a two- month low, led by the biggest gain in financial shares in a month, on speculation a plan from President Barack Obama will shore up banks.

Please take this all with a grain of salt. Why? Maybe an example is needed... This past Friday, the day after the remarkable / amazing landing of the US Airway plane into the Hudson River, the Wall Street Journal declared:

US Airways Group Inc. shares rose 13% to $8.53 Friday in New York Stock Exchange trading Friday, outpacing gains in other carriers' stocks.

Accidents with fatalities can dent airline's reputations in the short term. But an outcome like the one with Flight 1549, which is being praised as an example of superior airmanship and crew training, appears to have prompted a rally.

If that is what prompted the rally (it didn't), it was short-lived. Since that Friday level (which just allowed the stock to bounce back to a pre-crash price), US Airways Group stock is... down 12%.

So... in a nutshell. Take everything you hear from financial TV, or newspapers (or even this blog) with a grain of salt. In the end, take in all the relevant information (most isn't) and proceed cautiously...

Death of the Newspaper

Financial Times (hat tip Felix' Market Movers) reveals that News Corp may have been a bit too early with their acquisition of Dow Jones (i.e. the Wall Street Journal), though it is important to note that the value of News Corp stock (it was a stock acquisition) is down 2/3 since the 2007 acquisition:

The $5.6bn Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp paid in 2007 for Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal and several local papers, would now be sufficient to buy Gannett, the New York Times, McClatchy, Media General, Belo and Lee Enterprises, even at twice their current share prices.