Where now Dow?
One of the big news of today is the precipitous drop in valuations of the US stock indexes. Dow Jones, the most popular and most widely known o such indexes (albeit probably not the most informative) dropped more than 400 points, largest single day drop in several years. This sell-off seems to have been caused by a similar sell-off earlier today of Chinese stocks, another very palpable demonstration of the influence of Chinese economy on the US.
Over the years watching the stock market indexes has become yet another one of my daily routines, together with checking up on weather and sports scores. The idea that there is a single number, or a set of numbers, that indicate in some way how good or bad that day was has certain intrinsic appeal to me. This appeal of numbers is probably at the root of my decision to pursue a career in science to begin with.