WHEN Bill Clinton was running for the US presidency back in the early 90s, he built his campaign on the fact that he identified closely with the hardships that accompany rising joblessness.

By doing so, he won over that segment of the electorate that was growing increasingly disenfranchised with a weakening economy and escalating unemployment, thus defeating a hapless George Bush Sr who had displayed an inability to come to grips with a deteriorating economy. "It's the economy, stupid!" thus became the slogan and rallying cry of the Clinton election campaign.

Today, the same refrain holds true in almost all aspects of daily life, including the stock market, notwithstanding the fact that the economy and market periodically decouple. This is because even though economists devise all sorts of indicators to measure economic health, to most people "the economy" means one thing and one thing only - jobs.