Practical analysis for investment professionals 
Like powerful tools or drugs, high-frequency trading (HFT) is both extraordinarily valuable and incredibly dangerous. Although HFT greatly reduces average trading costs for investors, it also poses systemic risks to the markets, hurts investors through front running, and decreases investor confidence. Read more
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A recent study designed to decipher the “black box” of sell-side analyst decision making sheds new light on the driving forces behind two important outputs of their work: earnings estimates and stock recommendations. Read more
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Bloomberg recently announced that it had become the first financial information platform to integrate real-time Twitter feeds “directly into the investment workflows of market professionals.” A network analysis of a partial list of Twitter accounts included in the terminal service yields some interesting insights. Read more
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What do quant great Edward O. Thorp, behavioralist Jamies Montier, and value investing legends, Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, have in common? These investment practitioners all make a seemingly incongruous appearance together in Quantitative Value, a new book by Wesley Gray and Tobias Carlisle. Read more
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Some of the top articles from last month ask whether technical analysis can boost returns, what the next 20 years have in store for private wealth, and how well the stock market discounts. Read more
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Just as the surging US equity market and better economic news were beginning to build investor confidence, events in Cyprus have provided a disturbing counterpoint. Could a black swan plunge markets into another global financial crisis? The cover story of the latest issue of CFA Institute Magazine looks at five disaster scenarios that might appear unlikely now but that have the potential to cause a chain reaction in global markets. Read more
1 CommentWhat is the current state of capital raising? What types of hedge fund strategies are attracting capital? How have hedge funds evolved subsequent to the global financial crisis? Read more
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As we come upon the close of the first quarter of 2013, most major equity indices around the globe are showing impressive gains, buoyed by continued monetary easing by central banks and hopeful signs of economic resurgence. While investors will likely look for confirmation in upcoming earnings reports, the recent negative preannouncement from economic bellwether FedEx (FDX) should serve as a reminder that profit margins are near all-time highs and could represent a significant hurdle for stocks. Read more
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