"An argument could be made that what the world witnessed Monday was the latest -- and perhaps greatest -- example of the market phenomenon known for a decade as the Tiger Effect."

Spotted by John Strege, this is disturbing on a level I can't even begin to describe. Ty Wenger at TheStreet.com:

Indeed, an argument could be made that what the world witnessed Monday was the latest -- and perhaps greatest -- example of the market phenomenon known for a decade as the Tiger Effect.

One of any number of so-called celebrity market effects, the Tiger Effect has held arguably the most credibility over the course of the past 10 years. (If the golf-obsessive traders of the world are obsessed with any one individual, it is surely Tiger Woods. Just ask their wives.)

Those who doubt the legitimacy of the Tiger Effect need only consider that last June, during the dramatic U.S. Open Monday-afternoon playoff round between Woods and journeyman pro Rocco Mediate, the volume on the New York Stock Exchange dropped from an average of 781.5 million shares, between noon and 4 p.m., to a mere 709.9 million shares traded during the same time period.

So not only does the game lean hard on Tiger to save it from itself, now the markets too?

And we use these markets as a barometer? God help us!