Please pick any TWO topics to discuss and make at least two comments on your classmates’ posts:-
1. The Super Bowl Indicator Theory suggests that the stock market will have a positive year if the National Football Conference team, or a team with an NFC origin, wins. If the American Football Conference team wins, the market will fall. According to the recent news (MarketWatch, 2/6/2017), it has accurately predicted the direction of the market for the year following 40 of the 50 Super Bowls since the first super bowl in 1967. Why do we have such phenomena? Is the finding consistent with market efficiency? Please discuss.
2. WSJ published an article: “Individual-Investor Boom Reshapes U.S. Stock Market.” (please find the article under the reading assignments folder) This article states that Mom-and-pop investors have fallen back in love with stocks, lured by free trading apps, a resurgent bull market led by technology companies, and a pandemic that has left millions of Americans at home with little to do. New data show several ways in which the individual-trading boom has reshaped the U.S. stock market. This article discusses five interesting takeaways from analyses of retail investing activities.
Based on this article, please discuss the Robinhood effect and what factors you think have driven these trends? What is the role of electronic traders, and how do they make money? Are you one of the retail investors who invest the first time in the stock market during the pandemic? Why or Why not?
3. From 1/25/2021-1/30, shares of the Texas-based videogame retailer GameStop surged as much as 815%, but GameStop Corp. is far from alone in going vertical this year. Everything from a hydrogen fuel-cell provider Plug Power Inc. to a struggling movie-theater chain AMC has rocketed in the past few weeks. Behind the swings, many see ordinary investors, stuck at home in the pandemic, swapping tips and hatching trading strategies on online forums like Reddit’s WallStreetBets—often buying things Wall Street has bet against. Many tout their long-shot wagers with the expression “YOLO,” or, “You only live once.” (please find the article ” GameStop Mania Reveals Power Shift on Wall Street—and the Pros Are Reeling under the reading assignments folder).
Based on your research, please discuss similarities and differences among the companies’ business models and common characteristics (for example, GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry Ltd., Plug Power Inc., Bed Bath