They Stopped Using That Word; I Think They Figured Out That Word Means What It Means

I don’t normally click on stories about day-to-day gyrations in the stock market. “It will fluctuate” was the right attitude a hundred years ago, and it’s the right attitude today. But the lede of a Reuters story caught my eye:

Stocks were little changed on Tuesday as the market consolidated after strong gains last week and manufacturing data did little to boost investors’ sentiment.

I hadn’t seen the manufacturing data yet. Was it weak? Strong? Flat? Must! Read! Story! Fortunately, the answer was in the second graf:

New orders received by U.S. factories bounced back in May, boosted by demand for transportation equipment, a government report showed. The 0.8 percent rise was slightly below economists’ forecast.

At least they didn’t say “unexpectedly.”