A portfolio manager once told me that half the research on my desk was a complete waste of time. “Figure out which half is garbage and you’ve just doubled your productivity,” he advised.
His point was that most research is backward-looking rather than predictive. Reading obscure financial information may look and feel like productive work, but most of this content has little chance of leading to better results.
Nevertheless, many of us plow ahead, reading news and research until our eyes turn red. After all, reading is easier than critical thinking, and it may impress people if you are up to date on a wide range of financial subjects.
Rather than reading less, portfolio managers must learn to rapidly detect what is nonsense and move on. It’s a necessary skill when confronted with the hype and sensationalism now masquerading as news: press releases that spin the facts, earnings reports that ignore basic arithmetic, and management explanations that test the boundaries of probability.
It is worse now that investment blogs have embraced the golden rule of tabloid journalism: simplify, then exaggerate. Pseudo news and pseudo analysis clutters the web, making it harder to stay well informed.
Fear sells, fact-checking is passé, misinformation is rampant, and track records of past predictions are irrelevant, according to Jeff Miller, president of NewArc Investments, who blogs at Dash of Insight. He writes extensively about how superficial journalism is shortchanging readers of financial news. Miller suggests focusing squarely on the future since you do not get paid for yesterday’s news.
Unfortunately, you’re pretty much on your own when trying to learn to read financial news effectively. The web is full of articles discussing how to detect political bias, while the professional investment literature discusses how to dissect financial statements. How to skillfully read financial news gets little attention.
Unfortunately, you’re pretty much on your own when trying to learn to read financial news effectively. The web is full of articles discussing how to detect political bias, while the professional investment literature discusses how to dissect financial statements. How to skillfully read financial news gets little attention.
Read Full Article Here: How to Read Financial News: Tips from Portfolio Managers
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