Most stocks lose money | Signals and Noise, July 17

Jul 17, 2026

This week's Signals & Noise is live. The theme: most stocks lose money. A study out of Arizona State tracked every US stock from 1926 to 2025, 29,754 companies, and found that just 1,082 of them created all the net wealth. The median stock actually lost 6.87%. The market has always run on a tiny handful of winners, and that number is shrinking fast.

We pair it with six more investing biases, the ones that get us to sell our winners early and cling to our losers, which is exactly the wrong instinct when the data looks like this.

Premium members also got the chart showing Australia now carries the world's heaviest household debt, the US deleveraging lesson from after the GFC, and the budget poll with its surprise on capital gains and negative gearing.

This week's podcast is there too, Everybody's Knackered: Oil, Chips and Chokepoints, with the full show notes.

Premium is $9.99 a week. The average adviser charges $7,000 a year. Cancel anytime.

Read the full free edition below.

Access Newsletter

Responses

Join the conversation

t("newsletters.loading")

The Beatings will Continue | Signals and Noise, October 2

Access Newsletter Hi there, The RBA is tightening into inflation it openly admits it cannot fix. That is not a contradiction, it is the job. This week's Signals & Noise looks at why that matters for you, what Europe's drift toward energy rationing and Ukraine's strikes on Russian refining capacity are actually telling us, and why we keep sending people back to the Anti-Fragile Portfolio maste...

Prepare, Don't Predict | Signals and Noise, September 25

Access Newsletter Hi there, This week's free Signals & Noise is live, and it's setting up something bigger. We think the next decade looks nothing like the last one. The S&P bull run we've all gotten used to is over, and the job now is to prepare for higher volatility. This week's issue walks through why, plus the earnings yield math that matters more than the daily price ever will. Premium m...

They have it completely backwards | Signals and Noise, September 18

Access Newsletter Every growing economy needs more debt somewhere in the system, either from private borrowing or from a bigger government deficit. The US budget deficit is growing, and the US economy is running at roughly 2.75% real growth. That is not a coincidence. This week's Signals & Noise looks at why we think the debate has it backwards, leveraged property speculation gets a free pass...

The Signals & Noise Newsletter

Cut through the noise. Each week, Signals & Noise delivers clear, evidence-based insights to help you think critically about markets, cycles, and risk. Just the signals that matter, backed by data and experience. For free, get key market summaries, visual charts, macro signals, decision-making tools, and a contrarian perspective. Smart, independent thinking sent straight to your inbox in under five minutes a week.

Most stocks lose money | Signals and Noise, July 17

Responses

The Signals & Noise Newsletter

Subscribe for Free