What is the Investing “EFFICIENT MARKET ” Hypothesis?

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP

SPONSOR: http://www.MarcinkoAssociates.com

According to colleagues Jeffrey S. Coons PhD CFA, the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) states that securities are fairly priced based on information about their underlying cash flows and that physician investors should not expect to consistently outperform the market over the long-term. 

There are three distinct forms of EMH that vary by the type of information that is reflected in a security’s price:

Weak Form: This form holds that investors will not be able to use historical data to earn superior returns on a consistent basis.  In other words, the financial markets price securities in a manner that fully reflects all information contained in past prices.

Semi-Strong Form: This form asserts that security prices fully reflect all publicly available information. Therefore, investors cannot consistently earn above normal returns based solely on publicly available information, such as earnings, dividend, and sales data.

Strong Form: This form states that the financial markets price securities such that, all information (public and non-public) is fully reflected in the securities price; investors should not expect to earn superior returns on a consistent basis, no matter what insight or research they may bring to the table. 

While a rich literature has been established for doctors regarding to test whether EMH actually applies in any of its three forms in real world markets – probably the most difficult evidence to overcome for backers of EMH is the existence of a vibrant money management and mutual fund industry charging value-added fees for their services. 

In fact, no less than Warren Buffett has suggested that the markets are decidedly not efficient. 

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Understanding Bond Duration

[By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, MEd, CMP™]

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Because of today’s stock market volatility, and virtual collapse in some banks and world equities, an interesting question often arises when the physician-investor considers investing in bonds; as more and more are doing.

Question

How much will a bond’s price change from a 1 percent change in interest rates? 

Duration Defined

To answer this, consider the concept of duration.  According to Jeff Coons PhD, CFP™, a bond’s duration is the weighted average life of its cash flows.

Thus, if your bond pays $60 per year in coupon payments for ten years and $1,000 in par value at the end of the ten years, the duration is the length of time that it takes for you to receive the present value of the coupon payments and par value. 

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

Rule-of-Thumb

How does this help answer the original question?  There is a handy rule-of-thumb that says the duration of a bond times the change in market interest rates is the approximate price change of the bond.  Thus, the price of a ten-year Treasury bond with a duration of approximately 7.8 years will appreciate (decline) by about 7.8 percent with a drop (increase) in interest rates of 1 percent.

Assessment

For each of the two basic types of bonds, the duration is the following:

1. Zero-Coupon Bond – Duration is equal to its time to maturity, and

2. Vanilla Bond – Duration will always be less than its time to maturity. 

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