Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

The barrow boys

Dec 11, 2023
When markets favored street smarts over fancy degrees.
Costermongers or street sellers, also known as "barrow boys," were often recruited to work as financial traders in London.
London School of Economics Library via Wikimedia Commons

Outsider trading: A year after Brexit, how 5 small UK companies have fared

Jan 5, 2022
Small British exporters reflect on their first full year of doing business as non-EU members. How do they feel about Brexit now?
Scarves depict the British and European Union flags. Exporters in different industries have had varied experiences with the new conditions of cross-border trade.
John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

What's the value of a good stock ticker?

Sep 2, 2021
A gray market in stock symbols is emerging on Wall Street, and some fetch six figures. Bloomberg’s Katie Greifeld tried to buy MEME.
Companies with clever ticker symbols outperformed the market from 2006 to 2018, a study showed. Bloomberg reporter Katie Greifeld tried to buy MEME.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images

What happened to the stock market today?

Mar 9, 2020
On Wall Street’s most turbulent since the COVID-19 outbreak, a Harvard economist explains what’s going on.
A trader reacts on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

What's behind some of the market volatility? Algorithms.

Mar 5, 2020
People don't buy and sell anymore. Computers do.
These days, computers and algorithms have replaced a lot of the action on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Scott Heins/Getty Images

First, brokerages cut commissions. Now they may be bulking up.

Nov 21, 2019
Charles Schwab is reportedly in talks to buy rival TD Ameritrade. Merging could help make up for cutting trading fees to zero.
Charles Schwab is reportedly considering merging with TD Ameritrade.
Joe Raedle/Newsmakers

Rebalancing the S&P 500 means a whole lot of trades

Mar 15, 2019
Friday was one of the four times a year when the S&P 500 rebalances itself. This means that some stocks leave this index and some come in. This also means that all the indixes and exchange-traded funds that track the S&P 500 (and there’s many) have to also rebalance themselves to reflect the changes. S&P […]
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Hobby investments can't escape that darn global economy

Feb 13, 2019
Hobby investments are a fun alternative to the stock market. But they aren’t immune from the ebbs and flows of the economy.
The Beanie Baby craze in the '90s is an example of hobby investing.
Joyce Naltchayan/AFP/Getty Images

Five things to watch in trade in 2019

Dec 27, 2018
2018 was a busy year for U.S. trade policy and the 2019 outlook looks just as hectic.
New foreign cars are seen parked at the Dundalk Marine Terminal on March 9, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The origin of the holiday half day of trading on Wall Street

Nov 23, 2018
Federal law prohibits markets from being closed more than three consecutive days.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images