Cause and effect

How can you tell whether the president's remarks from the previous day were behind today's stock market's performance? At the Fair 'n' Balanced Network, it looks pretty easy. Market happy (Tuesday), it's "Trump's coronavirus proposals"; market sad(Thursday), it's those global fears gripping Wall Street.

If you read past the headlines (frankly, when we write 'em so well, why should you?), you might get a slightly different view:

U.S. equity markets cratered Thursday after President Trump suspended travel from Europe for 30 days in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

One could go on all day about Fox and framing and infectious diseases, but then we'd be writing a paper.