The fluidity of financial markets needs all the necessary information on transactions and stakeholders.
Hence the profusion of rules to codify what financial information should look like.
The experience that has been conducted by the Wall Street Journal throughout the 1990s provides unexpected insights into this topic largely covered by the “pensée unique”.
This experience had shown that monkeys throwing darts were not significantly worse than financial analysts in their investment choices.
Far from advocating for the abolition of financial information, this experiment raises the question of the nature of the information that is needed by “qualified“ or “unqualified“ investors.
It is not sure that the recommendations “buy” “hold” “sell” provide the correct answer.
The information is based primarily on independent opinions in the way that rating agencies can write.
It is now up to investors to find the rating reports and to read them carefully.
Dominique F. Pasquier