The Housing Boom is Back

The experienced hands in the financial business know that when an investment becomes headline news, a price reversal isn't too far away.

It's not a failsafe mechanism, but it is a signal that caution is warranted. It's the modern equivalent of the early saying, "A bubble is punctuated by bellboys giving stock tips."

But it's not just stock tips that the headline as a warning can be applied to.

In the case of investments, a headline flushes out the final run of buyers, often pushing prices to a peak. When no buyers are left, the prices fall as people try to lock in gains by rushing to the exits.

We see a similar phenomenon with individual celebrity.

When a person becomes headline news, the tall-poppy syndrome brings out knockers, and they bring some inconvenient truths into the public domain. Sometimes those matters destroy the 'lustre' created around the figure.

That's not always the case, though. In the modern age, celebrities have been created or enhanced by bad media.

I would never have thought that leaking a homemade intimate video was the ticket to lasting fame, but it has been for some 'influencers'.

There's also an area of the investment market that I find confounding.