Fox News sorry after graph shows market reaction

Dalvin Brown
USA TODAYPublished 4:55 PM EDT Jun 6, 2020Fox News apologized Saturday after showing an infographic on-air that depicts the stock market’s reaction to high profile killings of black men including the recent death of George Floyd. The graph aired on Friday during Fox’s live news coverage and showed positive stock market changes one week after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and the police killings of Michael Brown and George Floyd, who were both unarmed when they lost their lives to white officers. The bar graph also showed a 1.2% positive change after the acquittal of two white men facing trial in the brutal 1992 beating of Rodney King. The information listed in the graphic included  “percentage change” in the S&P 500 market “one week after event.”A Fox News spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement that the graph shouldn’t have aired without more information being added. Business: Yelp is adding a new tool search for black-owned businessesPulled over while connected: Siri can quietly video record the police”The infographic used on FOX News Channel’s Special Report to illustrate market reactions to historic periods of civil unrest should have never aired on television without full context. We apologize for the insensitivity of the image & take this issue seriously,” the Fox News spokesperson said in the statement. In a video of the news coverage posted to Twitter, you can hear a news anchor provide background about what triggers changes to the S&P 500 index following cultural events.”Historically, there has been a disconnect between what investors focus on and what happens across the rest of the country,” the anchor said.Other news outlets including Fortune, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal have covered the trajectory of the market during times of civil unrest. Protests have sprung up across the country in recent weeks on the heels of Floyd’s death, as many call for racial equality and an end to police brutality. There is evidence that the stock market has responded to protests: Shares of several gun and ammo makers surged last week after some rallies grew violent. Still, several factors contribute to stock market changes, including how investors respond to the nation’s job performance, consumer behavior and industry performance. Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown. 

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