This week has provided a good lesson in why it's foolish to follow the stock market's ups and downs too closely, unless you want to give yourself a good bout of nausea. The week started off looking disastrous: As of noon on Tuesday, the S&P 500 index was down more than 4 percent from where it had ended 2014, in less than three trading days. It was the worst start to a year since the disastrous 2008.
But then things turned around. The S&P stabilized on Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday was a strong day, with the index up 2.2 percent. That trend continued yesterday, when the S&P gained back a further 1.8 percent.
After all that turmoil, the S&P finished Thursday - concluding the first trading week of 2015 - up an almost imperceptible 0.16 percent for the year. All that nausea from the roller coast ride of earlier this week was for virtually nothing.
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