Quote for the Week
While the internet boom lasted, nothing seemed able to deflate the bubble. Few internet and dotcom companies were profitable, but investors never seemed to mind. They looked at the number of customers or subscribers as the basis for valuing internet stocks. The name of the game became raising capital, not making profits. Even when fashionable stocks dipped, there was remarkably little effect on the rest of the market. People had learned that it pays to buy the dips and were not weaned from the habit until it ceased to pay…
Despite its irrational aspects, the internet boom was more than a matter of inflated valuations. The optimism of the financial markets not only changed the “fundamentals” of individual businesses, it had real and profound effects throughout the whole economy. The boom did not only follow from the development of the internet; it accelerated that development and contributed to the speed and extension of technological innovation. The same was true in telecommunications, where the boom also accelerated the spread of new technology. — George Soros (source)
From the Archives
Last Call
- Why Stocks Sometimes Fall for No Obvious Reason – L. Swedroe
- We’ve Seen this Movie Before – Contessa Capital
- The Excess Tranquility Puzzle – Owenomics
- Stock Duration: What It is and Why It Matters – Flyover Stocks
- Betting on Risk Changes the World – T. Harford
- The Hidden Costs of Getting Tax Planning Slightly Wrong –
- It’s Never Been Easier to Do Too Much – Range Widely
- AI isn’t Coming for Your Job. It’s Coming for Your Mind – Baillie Gifford
- Will We Ever Be Able to Forecast Volcanic Eruptions like Weather? – Quanta
- The Invention of the Continental Divide – JSTOR Daily