Matt Levine, Columnist

Too Much Information Can Be Bad

Also Mattel, Eurodollar algos, repo profits, unsolicited ratings, presidential predictions and Play By We.

October 30, 2019 at 4:10 PM UTC

Matt Levine is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, he was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit; and an editor of Dealbreaker.

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Some financial markets are mostly about making informed bets. If you buy Tesla Inc. stock it is usually because you think that Tesla is good and will go up; if you sell Tesla stock short it is usually because you think Tesla is bad and will go down.

Other financial markets are mostly about, ehhh, gotta put your money somewhere. If you buy a certificate of deposit from a bank, you are not betting that that bank’s credit is under-appreciated and hoping to make money when it rallies. You’re just putting your money somewhere to earn a little interest without thinking too much about it.