Archives for Markets - Page 4
It seems that every day we are advised by professional investors and others that the stock market is overvalued and to sell everything. And yet the markets (e.g. Dow, S&P, Nasdaq) continue to grind higher. This appears to be a disconnect between human observation and market behavior. One explanation is…
Australian property is looking fragile, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. Some factors that suggest we are at the calm before the storm: Ever more properties on market Selling booths for apartments back in malls Several hundred new apartment buildings under construction in Sydney New building approvals fall Crack down on…
I plan to write about the effects of stupidity, my own included, at more length. However, I thought a brief, preliminary observation might be of interest. A classic example of stupidity, by often intelligent people, is the “study” of economics. In an attempt to appear scientific, economists develop mathematical models that…
The image below is compelling evidence of the property boom in Sydney and Melbourne. The cranes are everywhere, is some places one can see as many as 20 within a kilometre or two. And it seems most streets in the city have houses being demolished and replaced with McMansions. This…
All people have a bias blind spot, that is they invariably think that they are less biased than everyone else. In one study, at Carnegie Mellon University, only one person out of 661 said that they were as or more biased than other people. This cognitive bias leads us to…
Perth, a city of about 2 million in Western Australia, is largely dependent upon the resource sector. With the current downturn in that sector, more people are leaving the city than arriving. This, along with higher unemployment, has put considerable pressure on house prices. I was recently in Perth and…