By Diana Palmieri
I am guessing they have been quite moody lately. Market volatility on Wall Street is all the talk for this summer so far. The week of August 8-August 12 was the most dizzying and volatile, even to some veteran traders. Here’s the week in a nutshell:
星期一8/8/11：道琼斯指数下跌635分。
Tuesday 8/9/11: Dow is up 420 points.
周三8/10/11：道琼斯指数下跌520分。
周四8/11/11：道琼斯指数上升413分。
Friday 8/12/11: Dow is up 125 points.
哇，通过戏剧。让您想把钱塞回床垫。还没有那么快 - 您听说过Beta一词吗？
Beta is a useful tool to measure the volatility and risk of individual stocks and mutual funds. Just so we are clear, determining an asset’s Beta does not mean you won’t lose money; it will just help you assess risk before purchasing it. Beta is used in the capital asset pricing model (known as CAPM), which calculates the expected return of an asset based on its Beta and expected market returns. I am sure you all might be able to guess which sector of the market might carry the highest Beta. If you guessed financials or technology stocks, you would be correct. Stocks with the lowest Beta generally are consumer staples and utilities.
Beta seems like something difficult to understand, but it’s really not. In fact, it can be found on the same page as the Price Earnings Ratio on a major stock data provider such as Yahoo or Google. In general, Beta is a term used to describe a stock’s tendency to move in tandem with a particular market index (basically how moody it’s been), which by definition has a Beta of 1. A Beta of 1 indicates that the security’s price will move with the market. A Beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market. A Beta of greater than 1 indicates that the stock’s price will be more volatile than the market. For example, if a stock’s Beta is 1.2, it’s theoretically 20% more volatile than the market. Below are some examples of stocks with high and low Beta as related to the S&P 500.
标准普尔500指数中的10股股票最高:
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| （资源：www.cnbc.com- 2011年5月5日挥发性市场的最佳股票） |
10 Stocks in the S&P 500 with the Lowest Beta:
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看看图表1（最高的beta股票），我们看到全世界的Monster的Beta为1.97。这告诉我们，全球怪物比标准普尔500指数的波动性高97％。相反，图表2的南部公司（最低的Beta股票）比标准普尔500指数的波动率降低了56％。现在，让我们通过使用Beta为2的技术股票来计算实际回报（只需将市场回报率乘以Beta）即可。
Let’s say the market performs and provides a 10-percent return to ordinary investors. Taking a tech stock with a Beta of 2 will provide a 20-percent return (higher risk, higher return). Conversely, if the market underperforms and provides a negative 8 percent return, then our tech stock with a Beta of 2 will provide a negative 16-percent return (ouch–higher risk, probability of lower returns!). Now flip to owning a low Beta utility stock of .60; using a negative 10-precent return of the market, your stock would have eased negative 6 percent (instead of negative 10 percent).
Beta is just one of many risk measures I use myself in determining the purchases of stocks for clients. Bear in mind there are many other things to consider when purchasing a stock or mutual fund; don’t just rely on Beta alone. Do your homework. We are in an ever-changing world, and market environments are going to be quite volatile, in my opinion, through the end of the year. There are many tools out there that can help you, along with the help of an advisor, to map out this very bumpy ride we are on and most likely will be for the foreseeable future.
本文中包含的信息并非旨在构成法律，会计，税收，投资，咨询或其他专业建议或服务。有关适用于您情况的特定信息，您应咨询合格的税务顾问或独立专业咨询。
Diana Palmieri is dually registered with Vanderbilt Securities LLC and H Beck Inc., which are unaffiliated. Securities offered through Vanderbilt Securities LLC, member SIPC/FINRA/MSRB.
