Is the Facebook Flop a Sign of Market Trouble to Come?

It’s not new to say that we see the world through Facebook Inc.’s eyes. That’s increasingly true for the market as well.

Last week, a trade truce between the U.S. and the European Union, expectations of a strong number for gross domestic product growth, which only slightly underdelivered, and corporate earnings likely to top 20 percent growth should have pushed stocks steadily higher. Instead, on Thursday, the day after the trade announcement, stocks slumped. On the other side of the ledger: an earnings report from Facebook in which revenue rose 42 percent, instead of an expected 43 percent. It was read by investors as a disaster. The company lost more than $100 billion in market value.