3 ms·

I mean, part of the entire point of the stock market is that it operates on investor confidence; these kind of effects happen all the time from many different c

I mean, part of the entire point of the stock market is that it operates on investor confidence; these kind of effects happen all the time from many different causes. If this kind of thing scares you, it kind of seems like the whole stock market itself would scare you. Heck, there's a separate sub-sector of the financial industry devoted to "dark equity" and hiding the actions of influential actors in order to not produce these effects.

duskwuff 10y ago
What's scary about it to me is simply the amplifying effect of celebrity investors. Lots of individual investors making individually irrational decisions can at least all cancel each other out, but when one irrational decision can drive thousands of other investors to all make that same decision at the same time, that's another matter.
- Benjammer 10y ago
  Do you think this effect has any more drastic consequences than the average celebrity endorsement of any product in any other industry?
  - BookmarkSaver 10y ago
    Yes, because a bunch of people deciding that they need a GoPro that they'll never use or drop extra money on a fashion line that has some celebrity's name on it isn't a big deal. That is money that is gonna be spent anyway. Sending irrational ripples through the stock market affects things like interest rates, retirements, and employment in a somewhat widespread manner.
rhizome 10y ago
Investor confidence depends on information from sources of varying credibility, and if CNBC is using their position as a source of market information it's probably good to keep their editorial policy on a short leash. Icahn is rich and famous so he can probably get on the show any time he wants, but to the degree that he's pumping with questionable intents he and the network are open to criticism.
seanp2k2 10y ago
If you know what's going to affect a security ahead of time, you can front run it :)
mey 10y ago
This is basically a recurring theme in Dilbert and also as an episode in the TV show. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803252/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803252/

duskwuff 10y ago

What's scary about it to me is simply the amplifying effect of celebrity investors. Lots of individual investors making individually irrational decisions can at least all cancel each other out, but when one irrational decision can drive thousands of other investors to all make that same decision at the same time, that's another matter.

Benjammer 10y ago
Do you think this effect has any more drastic consequences than the average celebrity endorsement of any product in any other industry?
- BookmarkSaver 10y ago
  Yes, because a bunch of people deciding that they need a GoPro that they'll never use or drop extra money on a fashion line that has some celebrity's name on it isn't a big deal. That is money that is gonna be spent anyway. Sending irrational ripples through the stock market affects things like interest rates, retirements, and employment in a somewhat widespread manner.

rhizome 10y ago

Investor confidence depends on information from sources of varying credibility, and if CNBC is using their position as a source of market information it's probably good to keep their editorial policy on a short leash. Icahn is rich and famous so he can probably get on the show any time he wants, but to the degree that he's pumping with questionable intents he and the network are open to criticism.

seanp2k2 10y ago

If you know what's going to affect a security ahead of time, you can front run it :)

mey 10y ago

This is basically a recurring theme in Dilbert and also as an episode in the TV show. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803252/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803252/