The battle against the short-termists

Short-termism is back with a vengeance. In recent weeks, research has thrown up an alarming statistic: the average holding period of a stock for a US mutual fund has plummeted to just nine months (pretty appalling in itself) but may be nearer to just six. Compare this with an average of 10 years, back in the 1940s. Furthermore, at the time of writing, a swathe of data points is forcing a retreat in risk assets. Let’s take this a step further: in the space of a week, investors have gone from interpreting the increase in the US discount rate as a sign of economic strength to changing cours...