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Investing "experts" catchphrases...that say nothing.


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With the FT job I rarely get to watch business television (CNBC, Bloomberg), but taking a couple of days to accompany my wife to a conference affords the opportunity to catch a broadcast or two this week. Some of the things one hears are mindboggling. Among them over the past two days:

"It's a stock-picker's market" - Really...you mean that there are times where one does not need to be able to pick stocks?

"It's one of those industries where you need to stick with quality" - OK, let me know an industry where one shuns quality.

"If you don't know what you own, sell some of it" - I simply don't know how to respond to this.

 

I am sure there are countless others, but the stuff that passes for "expertise" is astounding. 

 

-Crip

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On 6/26/2024 at 12:04 AM, Crip1 said:

With the FT job I rarely get to watch business television (CNBC, Bloomberg), but taking a couple of days to accompany my wife to a conference affords the opportunity to catch a broadcast or two this week. Some of the things one hears are mindboggling. Among them over the past two days:

"It's a stock-picker's market" - Really...you mean that there are times where one does not need to be able to pick stocks?

"It's one of those industries where you need to stick with quality" - OK, let me know an industry where one shuns quality.

"If you don't know what you own, sell some of it" - I simply don't know how to respond to this.

 

I am sure there are countless others, but the stuff that passes for "expertise" is astounding. 

 

-Crip

 

Literally one of the best parts of being in Asia is how you are practically removed from the 24 hour news cycle. US Markets are closed for the day by the time you are waking up and European markets haven't started up yet. Anything that's "news" just for the news cycle-sake is already being removed and replaced by whatever new stories are hitting the headline in the US&European papers. These days it's just the various Asian currencies hitting new lows against the USD and whatever "news" is coming out of China.  Bunch of ho-hum. As someone who previously had multiple TVs of CNBC/Bloomberg in front of them at work, it's mind boggling how utterly worthless those channels are. I'd argue the only time they are ever worth paying attention to in during market turmoil but even then you're probably better off not being influenced by their presenters, instead forming your own opinions about what is going on, and acting accordingly. 

 

 

Edited by Gamecock-YT
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As a value investor what irritates me is someone promoting a stock by talking about how great the company is while ignoring its valuation, which essentially is many of these catch phrases do.

 

It's like the Sandberg's old advice for lawyers:

 

Quote

If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.

 

For stock promoters, is something like "If the valuation is poor, talk about the opportunity. If the opportunity is poor, talk about the valuation. If both are poor, have Cramer pound the table and yell like hell"

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