Gamestop

Weekly Update

A Surge in Investment Technology

By

Published March 19, 2021

These days it seems there is a high level of financial investment activity going on. Witness the recent Congressional hearings about the online-driven mania in Gamestop and other “meme” stocks. We cannot remember a time when individuals trading stocks were brought before Congress. Every week there is a new acronym, new concept, or new purported “bubble” taking shape. We will take this space this week to describe, define, and digest some of the major new areas in the investment world. (more…)

Weekly Update

Reminder: The Market Is All About Supply and Demand, Nothing Else

By

Published February 5, 2021

That’s right folks, any market: stocks, bonds, commodities, milk, diapers, et al. is ONLY about supply and demand. Sure, we try to make ourselves feel better by assigning formulas and trying to figure out some “fair value” based on historical data. But it’s a complete wild west guess, right? Take the price-earnings ratio, so frequently used to peg the stock market as being “expensive” or “cheap”. This ratio has run anywhere from 10 to 100, settling in a typical range of 15-20 or so. Still, it’s a bell(ish) curve with a very wide range of possible values. That typical range does not say anything about the investing or economic environment of the times. (more…)

Weekly Update

An Overview of Current Economic and Market Conditions

By

Published January 29, 2021

This has been the rare week where investment news has become very mainstream. The frenzied trading in Gamestop and other heavily-shorted stocks has created all kinds of buzz. There are plenty of articles discussing the phenomenon of the armies of individual investors going after big-money short sellers. Once the sparks stop flying and the dust settles, there will be some big winners and losers from this market aberration. Meanwhile, the broader markets roll on, mostly unaffected by the turmoil in that handful of stocks. (more…)