Stock market and points
Whenever I hear the financial news (which is as seldom as possible these days), stock prices and daily index averages are always given in terms of points. For example, Stock X was up by 2 1/2 points or, perhpas more realistically, Stock Y (which without fail is a major component of my 401K) is down 4 points. Why aren’t these aforementioned fluctuations referred to as money, i.e. Stock Y’s value dropped by $4.00? Is it psychological so that poor schumcks like myself don’t overreact? Traditional?