It's down. It's up. It's down again.
Even as the stock market continued its wild and unsettling ride Wednesday, many businesses and consumers tuned much of it out. Houses were bought, cars were sold — commerce and life went on in spite of the turmoil and ominous economic news.
Sacramento car dealer Scott Lasher said business hasn't dropped off a bit in the past week. He added that consumers may have become somewhat inured to the gyrations on Wall Street.
"We've had so many skies-are-falling fire drills," said Lasher, of the Lasher Auto Group chain of dealerships.
That could be particularly true in a community like Sacramento, where unemployment is 12.3 percent and consumers are "already so hunkered down," said architect Michael Malinowski.
In more normal times, Malinowski might have gotten calls from panicked clients this week, telling him to postpone expensive home remodelings until the markets calmed down. But these days, Malinowski has very few clients anyway.
"It's already so grim – how many times can you get slapped in the head before it doesn't hurt as much anymore?" he said.
That's not to say the stock market doesn't matter. No doubt Wednesday's 519.83-point drop in the Dow Jones average, the latest in a series of chaotic days in the market, further damaged consumers' balance sheets.
Not to mention their confidence in the economy.
To read the complete article, visit www.sacbee.com.
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