B.Malkiel: A Random Walk down Wall Street

Debe ser este el mejor libro de divulgación sobre Investments escrito de tal manera de ser asequible al público en general. Permite al lego en la materia tomar decisiones de financiamiento personales correctas, que pueden incluso superar a las estrategias de los bancos de inversión más sofisticados. Permite entender los riegos que asumimos y plantea estrategias en función del horizonte de inversión de cada persona en particular. Escrito por un reconocido academico, pero también por alguien que participo activamente en el directorio de AMEX, de los Vanguard Funds, y fue miembro del Council of Economic Advisors.

 

 

Nuestra calificación: *****

Dificultad matemática: *

 

 

Capítulos:

 

PART ONE STOCKS AND THEIR VALUE

 

1. Firm Foundations and Castles in the Air 23 What Is a Random Walk? 24 Investing as a Way of Life Today 26 Investing in Theory 28 The Firm‑Foundation Theory 28 The Castle‑in‑the‑Air Theory 30 How the Random Walk Is to Be Conducted 32

 

2. The Madness of Crowds 34 The Tulip‑Bulb Craze 35 The South Sea Bubble 38 The Florida Real Estate Craze 44 Wall Street Lays an Egg 45 An Afterword 52

 

3. Stock Valuation from the Sixties into the Nineties 54 The Sanity of Institutions 54 The Soaring Sixties 56

The New "New Era".‑ The Growth‑StocAlNew‑Issue Craze 56

    Synergy Generates Energy: The Conglomerate Boom 61

    Performance Comes to the MarAet: The Bubble in Concept StocAs 68

The Sour Seventies 74

    The Nifty Fifty 74

The Roaring Eighties 76

    The Triumphant Return of New Issues 77

    Concepts Conquer Again: The Biotechnology Bubble 79

The Chinese Romance with the Lycoris Plant 82

    Some Other Bubbles of the 1980s 83

The Nervy Nineties 87

    The Japanese Yen for Land and Stocks 87

 

4. The Firm‑Foundation Theory of Stock Prices 93 The "Fundamental" Determinants of Stock Prices 94 Two Important Caveats 101 Testing the Rules 104 One More Caveat 106 What's Left of the Firm Foundation? 109

 

PART Two HOW THE PROS PLAY THE BIGGEST GAME IN TOWN

 

5. Technical and Fundamental Analysis 115 Technical versus Fundamental Analysis 116 What Can Charts Tell You? 118 The Rationale for the Charting Method 122 Why Might Charting Fail to Work? 124 From Chartist to Technician 126 The Technique of Fundamental Analysis 127 Why Might Fundamental Analysis Fail to Work? 131 Using Fundamental and Technical Analysis Together 132

 

6. Technical Analysis and the Random-Walk Theory 137 Holes in Their Shoes and Ambiguity in Their Forecasts 138 Is There Momentum in the Stock Market? 140 just What Exactly Is a Random Walk? 141 Some More Elaborate Technical Systems 145 TheFilterSystem 145 The Dow Theory 146 The Relative-Strength System 147 Price- Volume Systems 147 Reading Chart Patterns 147 Randomness Is Hard to Accept 149 A Gaggle of Other Technical Theories to Help You Lose Money 150 The Hemline Indicator 150 The Super Bowl Indicator 152 The Odd-Lot Theory 153 AFewMoreSystems 154 Technical Market Gurus 155

Why Are Technicians Still Hired? 158 Appraising the Counterattack 158 implications for Investors 161

 

7. How Good Is Fundamental Analysis? 164 The Views from Wall Street and Academia 165 Are Security Analysts Fundamentally Clairvoyant? 166 Why the Crystal Ball Is Clouded 169

1. The Influence of Random Events 170

2. The Creation of Dubious Reported Earnings through "Creative"Ac­counting Procedures 171

3, The Basic Incompetence of Many of the Analysts Themselves 173

4. The Loss of the Best Analysts to the Sales Desk or to Portfolio Management 176 Do Security Analysts Pick Winners? The Performance of the Mu­tual Funds 177 Can Any Fundamental System Pick Winners? 184 The Verdict on Market Timing 186 The Semi-strong and Strong Forms of the Random-Walk Theory 189 The Middle of the Road: A Personal Viewpoint 191

 

8. A More Deliberate Walk Down Wall Street: Is the Stock Market Predictable After All? 194 Predictable Patterns in the Behavior of Stock Prices 196 Predictable Relationships Between Certain "Fundamental" Variables and Future Stock Prices 204 Strong Form of the Efficient-Market Hypothesis 209 The Performance of Professional Investors 210 Some Other Anomalies 215 The Market Crash of October 1987 217 Concluding Comments 221

 

PART THREE THE NEW INVESTMENT TECHNOLOGY

 

9. Modern Portfolio and Capital‑Asset Pricing Theory 227 Defining Risk: The Dispersion of Returns 229 Exhibit

Expected Return and Variance: Measures of Reward and Risk 229 Documenting Risk: A Long‑Run Study 232 Reducing Risk: Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) 235 Modeling Risk: The Capital-Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) 241

10. The Current State of the Art: Beyond Beta 251 Batting for Beta: The Supporting Evidence 252 Being Bearish on Beta: Some Disquieting Results 254 Academic Attack 1: Theory Does Not Measure Up to Practice 256 Academic Attack 2: Beta Is a Fickle Short Term Performer (and Some­times It Fails to Work for Long Periods of Time) 258 Academic Attack 3. Estimated Betas Are Unstable 260 Academic Attack 4.‑ Beta Is Easily Rolled Over 266 Academic Attack 5.Has Beta Ever Been a Reliable Predictor ofFuture Returns? 267 An Appraisal of the Evidence 269 The Quant Quest for Better Measures ofRisk.. Arbitrage Pricing Theory 271 A Summing Up 275

 

11. How Pork Bellies Acquired an Ivy League Suit: A Primer on Derivatives 277 The Basic Types of Derivatives 278 The Futures Markets: Functions and History 280 The Options Markets: Functions and History 285 The Exciting Dangers of Derivatives 289 Some Illustrations of the Potential Profits and Pitfalls from Op­tions and Futures 293 Bullish on Micron Technology Stock-Alternative Profit and Risk Positions 293 Bearish on Micron Technology Stock -Alternative Profit and Risk Positions 296 Strategies Involving Financial Futures 300 The Controversy Over Derivatives 301 Some Rules for Individual Investors 305

 

Appendix to Chapter 11: What Determines Prices in the

Futures and Options Markets? 311

 

PART FOUR      A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR RANDOM WALKERS AND OTHER INVESTORS

 

12. A Fitness Manual for Random Walkers 317 Exercise 1: Cover Thyself with Protection 318 Exercise 2: Know Your Investment Objectives 321 Exercise 3: Dodge Uncle Sam Whenever You Can 329

Exercise 4: Be Competitive; Let the Yield on Your Cash Reserve Keep Pace with Inflation 334

Money-Market Mutual Funds 3.74

Money-Market Deposit Accounts 337 Bank Certificates 338

Tax-ExemptMoney-Market Funds 339

Exercise 5: Investigate a Promenade through Bond Country 341 Zero-Coupon Bonds Can Generate Large Future Returns 342 No-Load Bond Funds Are Appropriate Vehicles for Individual Investors 344

Tax‑Exempt Bonds Are Useful for High-Bracket Investors 345 Should You Be a Bond‑Market junkie? 348

Exercise 6: Begin Your Walk at Your Own Home; Renting Leads to Flabby Investment Muscles 349

Exercise 7: After the Real Estate Depression of the Early 1990s, Some Attractive Opportunities Exist in Commercial Real Estate 353

Exercise 8: Tiptoe through the Investment Fields of Gold and Col­lectibles 358

Exercise 9: Remember that Commission Costs Are Not Random; Some Are Cheaper than Others 362

Exercise 10: Diversify Your Investment Steps 363 A Final Checkup 364

 

13. The Determinants of Stock and Bond Returns and How You Can Roughly Project the Future Returns from Financial Assets 366

The Acceleration of Inflation in the Late 1960s and 1970s 370 The Agony of the Bond Investor 372

The Sorrow of the Stock Investor 372

Why Did Common Stocks Fail in the 1970's? Some False Clues 373

The Smoking Gun: The Price-Dividends, Price-Earnings Crash of the 1970s 377

The 1980 Paper-Asset Thesis 380

The 1980s A Decade for Paper Assets 381

Returns During the First Half of the 1990s 383 judging Returns for Financial Investments during the Late 1990s and into the Twenty First Century 384

Could I Be Wrong? 396

14. A Life-Cycle Guide to Investing 400 1. Risk and Reward Are Related 401 2. Your Actual Risk in Stock and Bond Investing Depends on the Length of Time You Hold Your Investment 402 3. Dollar-Cost Averaging Can Reduce the Risks of Investing in Stocks and Bonds 405 4. The Risks You Can Afford to Take Depend on Your Total Fi­nancial Situation 408 The Life-Cycle Investment Guide, with Some Individual Adjust­ments to the Game Plan 411

 

15. Three Giant Steps Down Wall Street 421 The No-Brainer Step: Buying the Market 422 The Tax-Managed Index Fund 429 The Deep-Thinker Step: Doing It Yourself 432 The Substitute-Player Step: Hire a Professional Wall-Street Walker 441 Risk Level 445 Unrealized Gains 445 Expense Ratios 446 The Morningstar Mutual-Fund Information Service 446 A Primer on Mutual-Fund Costs 449 Loading Fees 450 Expense Charges 451 Comparing Mutual-Fund Costs 452 The Malkiel Step 453 A Paradox 456 Some Last Reflections on Our Walk 458

 

A Random Walker's Address Book and Reference Guide to Mutual Funds 461