Title: Engines That Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond / Edition 1
Author: Alasdair Nairn, John Marks Templeton (Foreword by)
ISBN-10: 0471205958
ISBN-13: 9780471205951
Many innovative technologies have changed the way we live as well as the way we invest-whether it was the railroads that connected America from coast to coast or the Internet that connects people around the world. The birth and commercialization of a breakthrough technology swiftly transforms that market with an investment pattern that creates both economic booms and busts before a more stable environment occurs. Engines That Move Markets captures the impact that some of the greatest technological inventions of the past two hundred years have had on financial markets and investors’ fortunes. This engaging overview of industrial development and its effect on investors shows you how the pattern of investment response to such technological advances as- • Electric light and its commercial exploitation • The railroad boom in Britain and the United States • The development of the automobile industry • The discovery and early development of crude oil • The rise of the PC • The Internet and dot-com bubble -can be used to help you avoid costly investment mistakes today and recognize the emerging technologies of the future. Through his exhaustive research and fluid writing style, Alasdair Nairn pieces together ten of these historical episodes. Each chapter chronicles a different technological innovation-past and present-that has dramatically shaped the market of that time. Nairn provides a virtual road map on how to appraise the “new technology” companies of the future by detailing how investors and the media have reacted to past innovations; charting the performance of share price, earnings growth, and return on capital of the company that owned the innovation; and pinpointing which companies emerged as winners-and, equally important, which companies suffered as losers. Engines That Move Markets is more than just a history of money, stocks, and trading. This engaging book reveals the prevailing social attitudes that surrounded each new stock market boom and examines the ingenuity of the entrepreneurs who struggled to develop their unique products and markets. In examining the recurring patterns that are associated with each new technological innovation, Engines That Move Markets provides timeless lessons for investors looking for the next company and innovation that will shape the market of the future. This study of past financial history is a rich source of inspirational guidance for any investor-whether you’re just getting started or have lived and invested through some of the booms and busts of past markets.
