Heard on the news this morning that the 35th week of the year has consistently been the worst in terms of stock market falls....in the UK at least. And I may have misheard, but I think the report said this had been true for pretty much the whole life of the FTSE.
No idea why (back from holiday blues perhaps). But a classic example of herd mentality: once everyone thinks the market will go down in week 35 it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy - who wants to be left with expensive stock when you could by buying it for much cheaper.
I guess the question is, how can we generate positive herd movements, e.g. in areas like climate change - not just thinking something needs to change, but doing something about it.
The armband movement of MPH, Lance Armstrong et al, did a bit of that. Although you always got the sense this was a fashion herd more than anything else.
So what are the triggers then, that will get us all doing the same little something to significant ends?
