STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 3 August 2023

[Tansy_Gold]

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 3 August 2023

Previous SMW:
SMW for 2 August 2023



AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 2 August 2023


Dow Jones 35,282.52 -348.16 (0.98%)
S&P 500 4,513.39 -63.34 (1.38%)
Nasdaq 13,973.45 -310.47 (2.17%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours:

Google Finance
MarketWatch
Bloomberg
Stocktwits

(click on links for latest updates)

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Currencies:













Gold & Silver:






Petroleum:

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DU Economics Group Contributor Megathreads:

Progree's Economic Statistics (with links!)
mahatmakanejeeves' Rail Safety Megathread
mahatmakanejeeves' Oil Train Safety Megathread

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Quote for the Day:

At three o'clock that afternoon of August 3, Grey was due in Parliament to make the government's first official and public statement on the crisis. All Europe, as well as all England, was hanging on it. Grey's task was to bring his country into war and bring her in united. He had to carry with him his own, traditionally pacifist, party. He had to explain to the oldest and most practiced parliamentary body in the world how Britain was committed to support France by virtue of something that was not a commitment.

Barbara W. Tucuman. The Guns of August. Ballantine Books. © 1962, 1994.

This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

[Warpy]

1. The war was sold to the British people through heavy propaganda

as newspapers tried to outdo each other with graphic descriptions of alleged German war crimes.

Oh, Germany did commit atrocities, but the real ones paled in comparison with what the gutter press came up with. Britons couldn't get enough of the stuff and the sales pitch sent outraged young men to the recruitment offices, eager to fight on the side of good and teach evil a lesson.

Grey's job was easy by comparison, he only had to convince a roomful of MPs. The people were a much harder sell, they couldn't understand why anyone would start a war over a dead Archduke from a tottering empire like the Austro-Hungarian empire. They didn't understand the dominoes toppling, as treaty followed treaty and nations declared war on each other because of them. Nobody understood what was happening or why.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. I had almost forgotten I even had this book

I think I've posted a QFTD from David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, which I see as kind of a companion to Tuchman's, but I realized today I hadn't posted anything from the latter. As I do with almost all the daily quotes, I opened the book to a random place, and there was "August 3" in the middle of the page.

"Nobody understood what was happening or why," truly sums it up. Or as Tuchman herself later put it, "The March of Folly." I need to do some re-reading.

[Warpy]

3. I need to reread that one, it's on Audible

and I have credits saved up. It's been a lot of years.

[DemReadingDU]

4. I seem to have missed a lot of history during my lifetime

Thanks for posting all these daily quotes and comments.

[Tansy_Gold]

5. You're very welcome!

The quotes are all from books I actually own, either paper or digital, so I have a lot to choose from. I haven't read all of them cover to cover, and some I really don't agree with, but almost all of them have interesting nuggets. I'm glad you've enjoyed them!