Markets

Presidents and the Market

Posted on November 1, 2020November 1, 2020 by Sam Kornstein in Charts & Data, Data Visualization, Economics, Markets

I suspect most presidents have less influence over stock market performance than the media suggests. And today – probably more so than at any other time in my life – the performance and health of the largest companies comprising the stock market is not a good measure of the overall health of the economy. But regardless, taking a step back and looking at market movements over multi-year periods can provide a helpful perspective. And so as we near Tuesday’s election, I enjoyed seeing and reflecting on this Axios graphic: I expect many people would look at this and spin it to support the political narrative they want to be true. And some of those narratives are probably right. But I

4 Thoughts on the Crypto “Bubble”

Posted on January 14, 2018January 15, 2018 by Sam Kornstein in Current Events, Economics, General, Markets

There’s been a lot of talk about whether Bitcoin, or crypto overall, is a bubble. Some say absolutely. Many suspect it’s likely, but argue that as with most bubbles, it’s difficult to know for sure. After all, the Economist called Bitcoin a bubble in 2011 when it was at $2.50 and again in 2013 when it was at $1,000. And Tyler Cowan used to think it was a bubble, but now isn’t so sure. I’ve had many fun discussions about this with friends and family, and have been increasingly reading and thinking about the topic. So I’d like to share a few thoughts. 1. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrecnies is $740B – this is a bubble The market cap

Sustainable Approaches to Reducing Food Waste (Continued)

Posted on December 3, 2013December 1, 2013 by Sam Kornstein in India Food Waste, Markets

The following is a guest post from my good friend and former research colleague Paul Artiuch. Paul and I previously conducted a research study focused on market-oriented approaches to reducing agricultural food waste in India. Paul has since conducted some comparative research in the US, which he describes below. Our original research, including our report and the associated blog posts, can be found here as well as on the MIT Public Service Center website. Over a year ago, my colleague Sam and I researched and documented breakdowns in Indian agricultural supply chains in order to provide insight into a problem which costs India around 40% of its annual output. Since then, we’ve been in contact with entrepreneurs, researchers and the media

Annual Returns by Asset Class

Posted on August 6, 2013August 6, 2013 by Sam Kornstein in Markets

To me, this is one of the most informative ways to present market history:

Rules of Investing

Posted on December 31, 2012January 8, 2018 by Sam Kornstein in Markets

Barry Ritholtz has a great list of investing rules, originally posted in two parts with descriptions in the Washington Post here and here. He recently reposted the consolidated list on his blog, The Big Picture, and it’s too good not to share. Every investor has their own process and decision-making rule set (or at least should), and while there’s no one approach that’s right, there are plenty that are wrong. Barry’s rules, at least in my opinion, are effective guides to help avid common mistakes and pitfalls. They’re broad enough that I think they’re applicable to investment activities ranging from managing a personal 401k or IRA all the way up to running a hedge fund or advisory firm. At the risk of

Saving Money With Fidelity Products

Posted on November 18, 2012November 18, 2012 by Sam Kornstein in Economics, General, Markets

I often find myself explaining to friends how they can save some money by using a couple Fidelity Investments products. The other day it occurred to me that I might as well turn my typical rant into a post. Full disclosure — I worked at Fidelity for four years, but am no longer compensated by the firm in any way. It’s a great company, and they have many products that are extremely useful. The two products I’m going to explain work well together. The first is the Fidelity Cash Management Account. While Fidelity’s brokerage company isn’t technically a bank, the firm has a bank-like cash management product that’s quite similar to a traditional checking account, with some added features. The account

Great Investing Advice

Posted on October 6, 2012October 6, 2012 by Sam Kornstein in Markets

Many people often ask me for investment advice, usually with questions about individual securities. I generally don’t like to respond to these questions for two reasons. First, I believe asset allocation is the single most important decision in the portfolio construction process. For this reason, I like to evaluate investments in the context of a diversified portfolio, not in isolation. There are always exceptions, sometimes for good reason, but I try to avoid them. Second, I can’t predict the future, and anyone who claims to be able to do so is lying. I have opinions on which companies, markets, and sectors appear to offer favorable opportunities, but if you ask me if a particular investment is going to go up

Shades of Green

Posted on December 22, 2011December 21, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Current Events, Markets

TripAdvisor has gone public: Eleven years after it began life above Kosta’s Pizza in Needham, and seven years after it was acquired by Barry Diller’s InterActive Corp. for about $200 million, TripAdvisor is finally gaining a NASDAQ listing of its very own. The company starts trading tomorrow under the symbol TRIP, and it will also be included in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. I briefly worked for TripAdvisor one summer when I was an undergraduate. It was a great place to work. One anecdote always stuck with me. I don’t even know if it’s true, but I heard it from at least two people while working at the firm. The CEO, Steve Kaufer, supposedly hates the shade of green

S&P Goofs Up Again

Posted on November 11, 2011January 15, 2018 by Sam Kornstein in Current Events, Markets

Via Kid Dynamite: Just in case you missed the most ridiculous story of the day – the BBC has the details: “Standard & Poor’s accidentally released a message to some of its subscribers on Thursday saying that it had downgraded French debt from its top AAA rating. S&P said it was investigating what had gone wrong and stressed that France still had an AAA rating.” So, Europe is a veritable powder keg right now waiting to blow, and S&P accidentally releases an erroneous message that they downgraded France. Then they said sorry. I’m half surprised that markets weren’t down even more this morning. Beyond absurd. Agreed.

My Favorite Economic Dashboard

Posted on June 25, 2011June 25, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Charts & Data, Current Events, Economics, Markets

An update of one of the simplest and most useful economic dashboards I’ve seen. You need to click through, but take a quick look: I would still love to see a dynamic version of this, updated daily. It’s not quite as relevant as it could be when it’s released June 22nd with data as of May 31st. Nonetheless, I like it.