Wall Street ends higher following 7 straight weeks of losses

[progree]

6. I'm not "the rich" but nevertheless, it affects me and my puny "unrich" investments

When an oligarch loses half their net worth, it doesn't affect their lifestyle at all

the remaining half of their wealth is more than they know what to do with.

When a regular person loses half their savings, it sometimes means they can't retire when they planned to. Or there's not enough money for higher education for the children. Or themselves. Or they can't afford some earnings downtime as they pursue a different career or other goals, for example.

As for those without savings or pensions -- A sustained stock market declines adversely affect consumer and business confidence, resulting in a reduction in spending with ripple effects throughout the economy, causing slowdowns, reduced hiring, and sometimes recessions, that affect all people, hurting those with the least the most.

The stock market is a leading indicator. All recessions that I've looked at began with a severe stock market downturn several months before the GDP and employment downturns began. Similarly, most or all economic recoveries were preceded by stock market upturns.