Skip to main content

Markets

What Does a Record Stock Market Mean?

We asked Yale SOM’s William Goetzmann, an expert on financial markets and the history of finance, what soaring stock prices say about the economy and the future of the markets.

A trader in front of computer terminals at the New York Stock Exchange
  • How Big Investors Avoid Market Predators and Keep Trading Costs Low 

    Researchers have generally believed that as large institutional investors make bigger trades, their trading costs rise accordingly. Research from Yale SOM’s Tobias Moskowitz finds that they take a slow-and-steady approach to keep costs down and outsmart market predators.

    A lion and an elephant
  • Will the GameStop Rebellion Last?

    We asked Yale SOM’s Kelly Shue, an expert in behavioral economics and empirical corporate finance, to explain what the GameStop phenomenon might mean for the balance of power on Wall Street.

    A sign reading "check out these great deals" at a GameStop store
  • During the COVID-19 Crash, Investors’ Beliefs Didn’t Match Their Behavior

    Despite a general wave of pessimism following the COVID-19 stock crash in March, few investors made significant changes to their portfolios, according to new research from Yale SOM’s Stefano Giglio.

    A trader at the New York Stock Exchange on February 28, 2020. Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images.
  • Rational Order from ‘Irrational’ Actions

    Prof. Shyam Sunder outlines a strain of research, drawing on complexity theory, that suggests that outcomes of a social system can be rational even if its individual participants are not rational.

    A crowd of people.
  • Does A Mutual Fund’s Past Performance Predict Its Future?

    A classic 1997 paper on mutual fund performance doesn’t describe present-day markets, Yale SOM's James Choi found.

    A road disappearing into fog
  • Liquidity Injections May Have Driven the Stock Market Recovery

    Why did the stock market recover as the economy suffered? Yale SOM’s Shyam Sunder points to the hundreds of billions of dollars injected into the economy by the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

    An illustration of Fed chair Jerome Powell speaking on a laptop in front of a stock chart
  • Why Did the Stock Market Bounce Back While COVID-19 Cases Kept Rising?

    According to preliminary research by Yale SOM’s Peter Schott and his co-authors, investors may be adjusting prices based on whether previous predictions of total infections seemed overly optimistic or pessimistic.

    A trader wearing a mask on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20, 2020. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
  • Crashes and COVID-19 in Historical Context

    The stock markets are reeling as fear and uncertainty about the global pandemic grow. We asked Yale SOM’s William Goetzmann, whose research includes financial history, to put the volatility into historical perspective.

    John Poole, president of the Federal American Bank, reassuring a crowd of anxious depositors in February 1931. Photo: Popperfoto via Getty Images.
  • What the Plunge in the Stock Market Means for Individual Investors

    We asked Yale SOM’s James Choi, who has examined the implications of academic research for personal finance, what studies say about how to respond to a market crash.

    A display at the New York Stock Exchange at the end of trading on March 12, 2020. Photo: Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images.
  • What’s Next for Alibaba? 

    The giant China-based conglomerate Alibaba raised more than $13 billion in November in a stock offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. We asked Yale SOM’s Heather Tookes and Matthew Spiegel, who have studied the performance of companies after IPOs, what their research suggests about Alibaba’s prospects and its next steps.

    The Alibaba Group’s listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 26, 2019. Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung.