Panic, Prosperity, and Progress

With the financial markets seemingly careening from one crisis to another, it's vital for today's investors and traders to have an historical perspective on market performance during times of great turmoil. In Hysteria, Shocks & Wars. Tim Knight provides an exhaustive analysis of financial market behavior prior, during, and following tumultuous events since 1600. Making copious use of charts and basic technical analysis, Knight demonstrates how external shocks tend to create extreme reactions in the financial markets and how these predictable reactions provide opportunities for investors and traders to profit. Knight traverses five centuries of financial market history, from Tulipmania in the 1600s to the contemporary sovereign debt crisis. He looks at each event from the prism of the financial markets, examining the market climate prior to the event, during the event, and following the event. In many cases, the events transpire over several years, setting in motion a sequence of financial market trends as investors vacillate between fear of impending doom; complacency that things will turn out all right; and greed as a particular market goes hyperbolic, like gold in the early 1980s. Knight draws lessons from all this history, providing traders with guidelines to better navigate markets in today's tumultuous times.