“Extending price momentum tests to the longest available histories of global financial assets, including country equities, government bonds, currencies, commodities, sectors and U.S. stocks, we create a 215-year history of cross-sectional multi-asset momentum, and confirm the significance of the momentum premium inside and across asset classes.”
“The role of Isaac Le Maire in the early trade in VOC shares is of modern interest for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most significant concerns the actual mechanics of a share price manipulation scheme involving Le Maire. Unlike most manipulations, where forward contracts are used to create a short squeeze resulting in rising prices, the manipulation led by Le Maire involved a series of actions designed to force down the price of shares. Under pressure from the directors of the VOC, the Dutch government acted to eliminate selling of shares for forward delivery that were not owned by the seller at the time of the forward sale.”
“This chapter discusses the history of option contracts from ancient times until the appearance of Theorie der Prämiengeschäfte by Vincenz Bronzin in 1908. The history examines the use of contracts with option features prior to the introduction of trade in free standing option contracts on the Antwerp bourse during the 16th century.”
“This paper explores commodity and manufactures price over the past three centuries to answer three questions: Has commodity price volatility increased over time? The answer is no: there is little evidence of trend since 1700. Have commodities always shown greater price volatility than manufactures? The answer is yes.”
“As one anonymous trader wrote in 1772, ‘How vast is the importance of our trade to Africa, which is the first principle and foundation of all the rest; the main spring of the machine, which sets every wheel in motion’.”
