《股票作手回忆录·第十二章·棉花惨败·被专家说服》第21节
“Why do you want a sable coat?” asked Ed Harding. “It would look particularly well on a man of my inches,” replied Bob, drawing himself up. “And how did you say you were going to pay for it?” asked Jim Murphy, who was the star tip-chaser of the office. “By a judicious investment of a temporary character, James. That’s how,” answered Bob, who knew that Murphy merely wanted a tip. Sure enough, Jimmy asked, “What stock are you going to buy?” “Wrong as usual, friend. This is no time to buy anything. I propose to sell five thousand Steel. It ought to go down ten points at the least. I’ll just take two and a half points net. That is conservative, isn’t it?” “What do you hear about it?” asked Murphy eagerly. He was a tall thin man with black hair and a hungry look, due to his never going out to lunch for fear of missing something on the tape. “I hear that coat’s the most becoming I ever planned to get.” He turned to Harding and said, “Ed, sell five thousand U.S. Steel common at the market. To-day, darling!” He was a plunger, Bob was, and liked to indulge in humorous talk. It was his way of letting the world know that he had an iron nerve. He sold five thousand Steel, and the stock promptly went up. Not being half as big an ass as he seemed when he talked, Bob stopped his loss at one and a half points and confided to the office that the New York climate was too benign for fur coats. They were unhealthy and ostentatious. The rest of the fellows jeered. But it was not long before one of them bought some Union Pacific to pay for the coat. He lost eighteen hundred dollars and said sables were all right for the outside of a woman’s wrap, but not for the inside of a garment intended to be worn by a modest and intelligent man.
注释摘要
这一段讲的是华尔街一个十分经典的心态陷阱。哈定营业部里那个关于貂皮大衣的轶事，听起来像个笑话，骨子里却是无数人亏钱的缩影。1900年代纽约的证券营业部是一个很奇怪的空间，它既是做交易的地方，又是社交场。一群人聚在一起，盯着纸带机里吐出来的行情条，一边聊天一边下单，很像今天有人一边刷手机看行情一边在群里调侃。当时没有电子屏幕，纸带机就是信息的源头，报价慢吞吞…