How does the stock market work?
That’s what somebody was asking at the online forum for my professional association, NIRI.
By the way, the NIRI Annual Conference is underway. I enjoyed yesterday’s sessions and seeing the faces of my colleagues in the virtual happy hour. We’ve got two more days. Come on! We’ll never have another 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic Annual Conference.
So, I’m not knocking the question. The discussion forum is a candid venue where we talk about everything but material nonpublic information.
Investors and traders, how do you think the stock market works?
My profession exists because there are companies with stock trading publicly. Otherwise, there’s no reason to have an investor-relations department, the liaison to Wall Street. IR people better know how the stock market works.
So it gets better. The question that followed was: What is IR?
Is that infrared? No, “IR” is investor relations. Liaison to Wall Street. Chief intelligence officer. The department that understands the stock market.
So, why is my profession asking how the stock market works? And why, since we’ve been a profession for over a half-century, are we asking ourselves what our job is?
I think it’s because we’re uncertain. Fearful. Grasping for purpose.
We shouldn’t be. The IR job is knowing the story, governance, key drivers in the industry and sector, and how stock-market mechanics affect shareholder value. Internal politics. External rules. Communications best practices. We are communicators, data analysts.
That’s it.
So how does the stock market work? Section 502 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018, which became law in May that year, required the SEC to give Congress an answer.
It did, in this 100-page report released in Aug 2020. The government always takes longer to describe things than the private sector. No profit motive, you know. But still. Do we think the SEC is making stuff up?
They’re not. I’m a market-structure expert. The SEC presents an exceptionally accurate dissection of how the stock market works, the effects of algorithms, the inherent risks in automated markets.
Did you get that, IR people? The SEC understands the market. Traders do. Investors do. Shouldn’t we? It’s the whole reason for our jobs.
If you’re offended, apologies. It’s time for our profession to be a little more David, a little less Saul. A little more huck the stone at Goliath, a little less cower in the tents. I studied theology, so if my analogy baffles, see the book of I Samuel in the bible, roughly the 17th chapter.
It’s literature for atheists and believers alike. It’s about knowing what you’re doing, fearlessly.
Here’s the stock market in 120 words, boiled down from 100 SEC pages:
There is a bid to buy, an offer to sell. These are set in motion each trading day by computers. The computers reside in New Jersey. Half the daily volume comes from these computers, which want to own nothing and make every trade. The equations computers use are algorithms that buy or sell in response to the availability of shares, and almost half of all volume is short, or borrowed. Stock exchanges pay computerized traders to set prices. About 40% of volume is Passive or model-based investment, and trades tied to derivatives like options. About 10% is buy-and-hold money. The interplay of these behaviors around rules governing stock quotes, trades and data determines shareholder value. And it’s all measurable.
If you want to see these ideas visually, here they are. IR people, it’s a mantra.
What do you tell your executives? They need to hear these 120 words twice per month. Once a week would be better. Visually. What part of your board report reflects these facts?
“I don’t describe the stock market.”
Oh? Stop fearing. We’ll help. What do those 120 words above look like through the lens of your stock? Ask. We’ll show you.
Let’s stop wondering how the stock market works and what IR is. IR is the gatekeeper between shareholder value and business execution. Math. Physics. A slung stone. A board slide.
Let’s be IR. Fearless.
