I’m attending a wedding today, looking like a penguin in my tuxedo…
So at silly o’clock this morning we loaded everyone and everything into the car… dropped Ivy at my parents house overnight… and now we’ve just checked into the hotel.
And when you check into a hotel… there are two English channels that are almost always on the TV.
CNN and Bloomberg.
I never watch either of them... but sometimes I just need some background noise to drown out these ancient AC units that UK hotels seem to have…
And I'd almost forgotten just how ridiculous Bloomberg's broadcasting is...
It's the content so much as the layout of the screen.
Because at any given time you've got the following on show simulatenously
Talking Head interview taking up 1/3 of the screen...
The daily performance of 6 different market indexes on the right side (constantly rotating every 30 seconds)
The monthly performance of 5 different market indexes in the middle (rotating every minute)
Plus 8 different news headlines.
So within 5 minutes we’ve covered...
Pop Mart (the company that makes those silly Labubu toys) dropping 8%...
Something Elon said on X…
Whether the UK will cut interest rates...
Australia's board of exchange encouraging more companies to IPO...
And that's not including the 40 or so different metrics that were on screen during that time.
And if just reading that made you overwhelmed...
IMAGINE WATCHING IT!
I have no clue who would actually tune into Bloomberg for any kind of useful information.
Because it's as if ADHD was a television station.
So now I'm convinced that it only exists for financial types to have on in the background to appear smart.
But as an individual investor I can safely say... the less Bloomberg you watch... the better investor you'll be.
Because it's one thing to be informed... it's another to be bombarded with information... 99% of which is meaningless to you managing a stock portfolio.
The same goes for CNBC... and other financial chit chat stations.
Oliver