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>the point at which they go ex-dividend is a convenient point to decide that it's now worth a bit less.

The company has less cash ex-dividend, so as a matter of fact is worth a bit less.

Valuation isn't, however, a matter of fact, but of values. We distinguish descriptive facts from prescriptive valuations. It is an important distinction, lost on many Rijksbank "Nobel" prize-winning economists.

Valuation isn't, however, a matter of fact

No, but that variation caused by going ex-dividend clearly is.

And while I do care what it is worth, that is only one factor in what its price will be, and of those two, the latter is the one that counts.

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