Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet By Jason Zweig | Nov. 26, 2011 This Thanksgiving weekend, Wall Street should say a prayer of gratitude for Occupy Wall Street. While some bankers and brokers have sympathized with or supported this ragtag protest movement, others grouse that they are being demonized. But compared with financiers of the past, who faced nasty...
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Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet By Jason Zweig | Nov. 19, 2011 How will 401(k) investors react to the latest blast of volatility in the markets? If the recent past is any guide, they will retreat into the apparent safety of cash, Treasury bonds and “stable value” mutual funds. They also will put money into their own company’s stock,...
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Image Credit: Chris Rand, “Star falling into the aurora over the Kewaunee River,” Wikimedia Commons By Jason Zweig | November 18, 2011 What’s the difference between a hero and a goat? Just ask Bill Miller. The once-revered mutual fund manager announced Thursday that he will step down in April as lead manager of the Legg...
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By Jason Zweig | Nov. 11, 2011 12:23 pm ET Image credit: Hans Bollongier, “Still Life with Flowers” (1639), Rijksmuseum In my recent column on Charles Mackay’s classic book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, I pointed out that “the most famous critic of bubbles who ever lived fell like a chump for a craze that...
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By Jason Zweig | November 5, 2011Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet Can you spot a bubble? Ever since 1841, when a Scottish journalist named Charles Mackay published the book known today as “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” the answer has seemed clear. If you watch carefully for signs of euphoria, you can sidestep...
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