Predicting the Markets


Book Description

I started my career on Wall Street in 1978. For the past 40 years on the Street, I have been thinking and writing about the economy and financial markets as both an economist and an investment strategist. While I have a solid academic background to be a Wall Street prognosticator, I learned a great deal on the job. In this book, I share my professional insights into predicting the economy and financial markets.




Predicting the Markets of Tomorrow


Book Description

A unique and timely new wealth-building strategy from a legendary investment guru In his national bestsellers How to Retire Rich and What Works on Wall Street, portfolio manager extraordinaire James P. O’Shaughnessy offered investors practical advice based on rigorous quantitative analysis—advice that has consistently beaten the market. But in a recent analysis of market data, O’Shaughnessy uncovered some astonishing trends not discussed in his previous books. The Markets of Tomorrow explains O’Shaughnessy’s new research and tells ordinary investors what they must do now to revamp their portfolios. According to O’Shaughnessy, the year 2000 marked the end of a twenty-year cycle that was dominated by the stocks of larger, fastergrowing companies like those in the S&P 500. In the new cycle, the stocks of small and midsize companies are the ones that will outperform the market, along with large company value stocks and intermediate term bonds. O’Shaughnessy describes the number crunching behind his analysis and then shows individual investors exactly how to select the right mix of investments and pick top-performing small and midcap stocks. The Markets of Tomorrow is a loud and clear call to action for every investor who doesn’t want to be left behind.




Prediction Markets


Book Description

How does one effectively aggregate disparate pieces of information that are spread among many different individuals? In other words, how does one best access the ‘wisdom of the crowd’? Prediction markets, which are essentially speculative markets created for the purpose of aggregating information and making predictions, offer the answer to this question. The effective use of these markets has the potential not only to help forecast future events on a national and international level, but also to assist companies, for example, in providing improved estimates of the potential market size for a new product idea or the launch date of new products and services. The markets have already been used to forecast uncertain outcomes ranging from influenza to the spread of infectious diseases, to the demand for hospital services, to the box office success of movies, climate change, vote shares and election outcomes, to the probability of meeting project deadlines. The insights gained also have many potentially valuable applications for public policy more generally. These markets offer substantial promise as a tool of information aggregation as well as forecasting, whether alone or as a supplement to other mechanisms like opinion surveys, group deliberations, panels of experts and focus groups. Moreover, they can be applied at a macroeconomic and microeconomic level to yield information that is valuable for government and commercial policy-makers and which can be used for a number of social purposes. This volume of original readings, contributed by many of the leading experts in the field, marks a significant addition to the base of knowledge about this fascinating subject area. The book should be of interest to anyone looking at monetary economics, economic forecasting and microeconomics.




Predict Market Swings With Technical Analysis


Book Description

A fresh perspective on predicting the market The experience of Wall Street investment manager and analyst Michael McDonald offers a new perspective on how to navigate the turbulent ups and downs of the markets. His innovative approach to the stock market teaches investors how to use new investment strategies intended to replace the "buy and hold forever" strategies of yesterday. McDonald discusses what a "trading range" market is-a roller-coaster ride in which the market will neither gain nor lose much ground-and guides readers through this market with his proven investment strategies. This book provides an understandable way to make sense of the unpredictable stock market, taking into account more complex theories, including chaos and contrarian approaches. Along with his expert advice, McDonald presents four investing paradoxes that will help investors make smarter decisions now and predict where the market is heading, using his proven theories.




Oracles


Book Description

Why Prediction Markets Are Good for Business From selecting the lead actress in a Broadway musical, to predicting a crucial delay in the delivery of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner months before the CEO knew about it, to accurately forecasting US presidential elections—prediction markets have realized some amazing successes by aggregating the wisdom of crowds. Until now, the potential for this unique approach has remained merely an interesting curiosity. But a handful of innovative organizations—GE, Google, Motorola, Microsoft, Eli Lily, even the CIA—has successfully tapped employee insights to change how business gets done. In Oracles, Don Thompson explains how these and other firms use prediction markets to make better decisions, describing what could be the origins of a social revolution. Thompson shows how prediction markets can: • draw on the hidden knowledge of every employee • tap the “intellectual bandwidth” of retired employees • replace surveys • substitute for endless meetings By showing successes and failures of real organizations, and identifying the common roadblocks they’ve overcome, Oracles offers a guide to begin testing expertise against the collective wisdom of employees and the market—all to the benefit of their bottom line.




Trend Forecasting with Intermarket Analysis


Book Description

In this groundbreaking new edition, Mendelsohn gives you the weapon to conquer the limitations of traditional technical trading-intermarket analysis. To compete in today's rapidly changing economy, you need a method that can identify reoccurring patterns within individual financial markets and between related global markets. You need tools that lead, not lag. Step by step, Mendelsohn shows how combining technical, fundamental, and intermarket analysis into one powerful framework can give you an early edge to accurately forecasting trends. Inside, you'll discover: Precise trading strategies that can be used by both day traders and position traders. The limitations of traditional technical analysis methods-and how to overcome them. How neural network computational modeling can create leading, not lagging, moving averages for more accurate forecasting. Innovative, quantitative trend forecasting indicators at the cutting edge of market analysis. PLUS-an introduction to VantagePoint Software, which makes Mendelsohn's "new economy" trading methods work simply-and effectively. This software applies the pattern recognition capabilities of advanced neural networks to analyze intermarket data on literally hundreds of global financial markets each day.




Forecasting Volatility in the Financial Markets


Book Description

Forecasting Volatility in the Financial Markets, Third Edition assumes that the reader has a firm grounding in the key principles and methods of understanding volatility measurement and builds on that knowledge to detail cutting-edge modelling and forecasting techniques. It provides a survey of ways to measure risk and define the different models of volatility and return. Editors John Knight and Stephen Satchell have brought together an impressive array of contributors who present research from their area of specialization related to volatility forecasting. Readers with an understanding of volatility measures and risk management strategies will benefit from this collection of up-to-date chapters on the latest techniques in forecasting volatility. Chapters new to this third edition:* What good is a volatility model? Engle and Patton* Applications for portfolio variety Dan diBartolomeo* A comparison of the properties of realized variance for the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 equity indices Rob Cornish* Volatility modeling and forecasting in finance Xiao and Aydemir* An investigation of the relative performance of GARCH models versus simple rules in forecasting volatility Thomas A. Silvey - Leading thinkers present newest research on volatility forecasting - International authors cover a broad array of subjects related to volatility forecasting - Assumes basic knowledge of volatility, financial mathematics, and modelling




Neural Networks and the Financial Markets


Book Description

This volume looks at financial prediction from a broad range of perspectives. It covers: - the economic arguments - the practicalities of the markets - how predictions are used - how predictions are made - how predictions are turned into something usable (asset locations) It combines a discussion of standard theory with state-of-the-art material on a wide range of information processing techniques as applied to cutting-edge financial problems. All the techniques are demonstrated with real examples using actual market data, and show that it is possible to extract information from very noisy, sparse data sets. Aimed primarily at researchers in financial prediction, time series analysis and information processing, this book will also be of interest to quantitative fund managers and other professionals involved in financial prediction.




Stock Buybacks


Book Description

Several Progressive politicians have pounced on corporate share buybacks lately. They see buybacks as a major source of income and wealth inequality, subpar capital spending, and lackluster productivity. In their opinion, buybacks have contributed greatly to the stagnation of the standards of living of most Americans in recent years. So they want to limit buybacks or even ban them. Some of Wall Street's stock-market bears have been growling about buybacks as well. They've been arguing that buybacks have rigged the stock market in favor of the bulls. They claim that companies buy back their stock to boost their share prices, using debt to finance this dubious activity. As a result, corporate balance sheets have become increasingly leveraged, which makes them vulnerable to a recession. Widespread corporate leverage, in turn, would exacerbate any economic downturn. The bears therefore remain bearish and expect to be vindicated with a vengeance, eventually. In this study, Edward Yardeni and Joseph Abbott show that the facts don't support either narrative. The most common reason that S&P 500 companies buy back their shares is to offset the dilution in the number of shares outstanding that results when employee compensation takes the form of stock options and stock grants that vest over time, not just for top executives but for many employees. In effect, the ultimate source of funds for most stock buybacks is the employee compensation expense item on corporate income statements, not bond issuance as the bears contend. The authors explain that the bull market in stocks has boosted buybacks to a greater extent than buybacks have boosted the market, whereas the opposite is more widely believed. Rising stock prices increase the attractiveness of paying some of employees' compensation with stock grants. Buybacks then are necessary to offset the dilution of earnings per share. While the latest bull market, like previous ones, has been driven by rising earnings, it's a Wall Street legend that earnings per share have been boosted artificially and significantly by stock buybacks. It may seem that way only because what lift buybacks have provided to stock prices is highly visible, occurring in the open market, whereas companies' need to offset stock issuance with stock repurchases is less apparent. The authors also refute Progressives' pervasive narrative that most Americans' standards of living have stagnated in recent decades and that buybacks per se have worsened income inequality.




Predicting Market Success


Book Description

Praise for Predicting Market Success "Predicting Market Success has come at the right time for major companies. The value of understanding the dimensions of your brand's unique appeal and strength of preference is indispensable for brand strategy today. This book is well worth your time." —Joseph T. Plummer, Chief Research OfficerThe Advertising Research Foundation "In the competitive world of branding, understanding what drives consumer loyalty is the cornerstone of a brand's continued success. Passikoff's market-driven insights on how to obtain, analyze, and utilize loyalty metrics will help you make strategic, brand-enhancing decisions." —Seth M. Siegel, Cochairman, The Beanstalk Group "Passikoff is the guy who can explain to me why people buy certain things from certain companies, even though other things by other companies seem just as good. With his great feel for pop culture and almost philosophical outlook, he understands what makes consumers tick-and stick." —Lenore Skenazy, syndicated columnist "Loyalty is a key component of the strength of a brand and brand equity, and Passikoff understands loyalty like few others. In this book, he captures the essence of loyalty and branding in a practical way-showing how loyalty drives profitability." —Erich Joachimsthaler, Chairman, Vivaldi Partners "If you want a business book that will make you feel justified, complimented, and comfortable, don't read this. If you want a book to challenge your beliefs about brand marketing right down to the core, you can't afford not to." —John Gaffney, Executive Editor, Peppers & Rogers Group