Social Media and your wallet

If you watched the Dow today, you most likely would have seen it suddenly tank a little after 1 pm. While momentum was regained and the Dow finished strong, why did the sinkhole occur?

The simple reason lies in one word: Twitter.

The Associated Press Twitter account was hacked into, allowing an unscrupulous person to post a picture of the White House burning, "reporting" explosions at the White House and injury ostensibly sustained by President Barack Obama.

While this issue was quickly rectified, it does reveal how powerful our interconnected world can be swung on pure mob mentality. The Dow lost 147 points in less than three minutes after the "report" came out on Twitter, briefly entering into the red before returning to a gain of 152 points to end the day.

Remember that most people trading in the stock market are, well, people. Even computer algorithms can be triggered by trading on a whim. We must realize that the market will be swayed by momentous events, but also retain a rational mindset to truly succeed.

Andrew Jabara
President of the E-Stock Club

(A glimpse of the Dow's swoon, courtesy of MarketWatch)

Two more loans funded on Kiva!

During the club meeting today, E-Stock has made two more loans to people in need.

First to receive a loan today was Abdel Karim from Dahieh, Lebanon, whose job of repairing motorcycle and power generators will receive a boost from the loan, which will allow him to buy special parts he uses in repairs. You can read more about Abdel here.

Second on our list was Catalina from Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, Philippines. She will be using her money to buy more groceries to sell from her general store. Catalina has taken out a loan before on Kiva and paid it back faster than expected, so it seemed foolhardy not to lend to her. You can read more about Catalina here.

Thank you to all members of E-Stock who made these donations possible. Let's continue to help the global economy!

Update: The loan made by Catalina has been fully funded! We will start to receive repayments within the next couple of months.
Update: The loan made to Abdel has been fully funded!

First loan on Kiva!

Hello!

E-Stock has recently opened up a Kiva account, and now the first loan has been made to Theresa. You can read her full story at: https://zip.kiva.org/loans/705.

Theresa raised an autistic child, and with her new app developments she has great promise for helping to mend autistic barriers. Her Training Faces app, for example, helps autistic students recognize emotions.

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If you notice something a little different about Kiva, that is because I used Kiva Zip to make our first loan. Kiva Zip is a special part of Kiva that allows loans to be made directly to the borrower rather than passively, as the often pre-disbursed loans you will find on the main Kiva page do. This way allows E-Stock to directly impact people in our global community.

There will be more loans made in the future, so stay tuned!

Update 4/30/13: Theresa's loan has been fully funded! We hope this loan will be able to make a positive impact on her business.

Boston Marathon and the Dow collapse from a terrorist attack

Today, on Monday, April 15th, 2013, two explosive devices were set off at the Boston Marathon, killing at least two people and injuring over 100 more. In terms of morality and of finance, this was a horrible tragedy.

Remember that finance is often tied to the mood of the nation. There are "American" investments, "Chinese" investments, "Chilean" investments, etc. When a nation is attacked, people tend to instinctively flee and move their assets somewhere else. As a result, the Dow dropped 266 points today to a dismal 14,559.

Does a tragedy always mean "sell, sell sell?" Not necessarily; the terrorist attack on the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, for example, did not make the market flinch. Part of the selloff was certainly driven today by investors worried about economic slowdowns in the US as well as Europe's continued entanglements.

Let this be an example of the need to stay up-to-date on current events. If it floods in China, what will happen to investments dependent on rice? If a hurricane rips through half of the US, what companies will be most active in rebuilding homes (or themselves)? If you always take some time to review current events, you'll have that much of an edge over Wall Street.


(Paramedics rush the injured to hospitals as the marathon devolves into chaos)

Hello Everyone!

I have just uploaded the previous editions of the Beckman Finance Newsletter! Click on the links below to check them out!

Beckman Finance Newsletter November 2012
Beckman Finance Newsletter December 2012