Equities Portfolios

Abstract

The conversation between colleagues during after work drinks at a local pub turned to what drives markets. The local market at the time was in a particularly optimistic phase and the stockbroker asserted that sentiment was far more important to stock prices than fundamental analysis of likely future company profitability. The investment manager disagreed and, in keeping with the zeitgeist, a bet was made that the stockbroker could cause the price of any randomly-selected stock to at least double in price in the space of a few weeks on the strength of rumour alone.