Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Zacks Market Edge Highlights: Boeing, Exact Sciences, CBOE Global Markets, CME Group and Nvidia

Read MoreHide Full Article

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 14, 2017 – Zacks Market Edge is a podcast hosted weekly by Zacks Stock Strategist Tracey Ryniec. Every week, Tracey will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. To listen to the podcast, click here: (https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/285730/why-we-are-obsessed-with-bitcoin)

Why We Are Obsessed with Bitcoin

Welcome to Episode #111 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast.

Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life.

In this episode, Tracey is joined by Kevin Cook, Zacks Senior Strategist and the host of the Mind Over Money podcast, to discuss the history of manias.

How do they start? What’s the psychology behind wanting to get in? What makes people jump in even when they know there is danger there?

And how can investors in cryptocurrencies avoid getting burned? Or can they?

A History of Manias

Charles Kindleberger, a PHD economic historian who passed away in 2003 at age 92, wrote what Tracey believes to be “the guide” to manias in the 1970s called Manias, Panics and Crashes, a history of financial crises.

Tracey has the 4th edition, which was published in 2000, fittingly, as the dot-com bubble was about to burst.

In it, Kindleberger looks at the stages and conditions of manias. Not surprisingly, over the ages, each of the manias have had similar features including speculation and increased liquidity due to monetary expansion.

In many cases, there is even governmental or regulatory warning.

Remember Chairman Greenspan’s infamous “warning” in 1996 about the “irrational exuberance” in the stock market?

Will You Be “Newtoned”?

Perhaps one of the most famous victims of a mania was Sir Isaac Newton who invested in shares of the South Sea Company in 1720. As Kindleberger recounts, his first investment did splendidly well. He saw a 100% gain of seven thousand pounds.

But as the mania picked up steam, and he was now on the sidelines, it sucked him back in. He reentered the market at the top the second time and ended up losing twenty thousand pounds.

He said in the spring of that year, “I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.”

There are plenty of early Bitcoin investors who have cashed out. But will they jump back in, lured, like Newton, by the momentum of the market?

Manias Overshadow Other Assets

One hallmark of many manias is that other asset classes usually do quite well during the same time period.

For instance, during the Tulip Mania in the 1600s, housing prices rose sharply, investors were jumping into plays on the canals, and shares in the Dutch East India Company doubled.

And now there are the cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Litecoin, soaring at the same time that the major stock indexes are hitting new all-time highs.

But in the public’s mind, stocks are being left in the dust by Bitcoin mania.

Yet, many stocks have had extraordinary years as well. Mega-cap Boeing (BA - Free Report)  is up nearly 90% year-to-date while a company like Exact Sciences (EXAS - Free Report) , which isn’t even being talked about by the financial press, is up 280% for the year.

Infrastructure Build-Out

Given that the cryptocurrencies are a new phenomenon, the back-end, including the infrastructure, is still being built out.

As many of us at Zacks have talked about in prior podcasts, investors can play the bitcoin mania by buying into the infrastructure including the CBOE Global Markets (CBOE - Free Report)  and CME Group (CME - Free Report) , where the futures will be traded, and even with companies like Nvidia (NVDA).

Kevin’s Advice for New Bitcoin Traders

Kevin has been trading some of the cryptocurrencies but trading, in general, isn’t for everyone.

What advice does Kevin have for those on the outside looking in?

And how does history look on those rushing in for a piece of the pie?

Find out on this week’s podcast.

[In full disclosure, the author of this article owns TCEHY in her personal portfolio. Kevin Cook also owns NVDA.]

Tracey Ryniec manages the Insider Trader and Value Investor portfolios at Zacks.com. She hosts 2 weekly podcasts: Zacks Market Edge Podcast and the Value Investor Podcast. You can also catch her on Twitter at @TraceyRyniec.

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros.  In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time!  Click here for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.

Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

https://www.zacks.com/performance

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.