Tom Petruno

Writer

About

Tom Petruno is a veteran financial writer. His work appears in the Los Angeles Times, Kiplinger’s magazine and elsewhere. He was the financial columnist for the Los Angeles Times from 1990 to 2011. Before that he was markets editor for USA TODAY. Petruno is based in Los Angeles.

Stock market ticker displays Feature / Stock Returns

New Appreciation for a Classic Stock Market Gauge

The relationship between short- and longer-term moving averages has strong predictive power for share price returns

Downhill race with aerodynamic push cars Research Brief / Investing

Momentum Investing: It Works, But Why?

After a quarter century of sprawling study, it’s time to narrow the focus and settle on an explanation

Illustration of a man looking at a stock chart Research Brief / Corporate Investment

How ETFs Muffle Stock Market Feedback to Managers

The rise of passive investing leaves companies mistrusting market signals on how best to deploy capital

Street sign with Past, Present, Future and collage of bond certificates Research Brief / Bond Market

With Bonds, the Past Can Be Prologue

Patterns in corporate bond returns include abrupt short-term performance reversals and “momentum” waves that persist

Illustration of a character wearing a hat covering their ears Research Brief / Investing

Ignorance — About One’s Investments, Anyway — Isn’t Always Bliss

Valentin Haddad’s research looks at the phenomenon of “information aversion,” when individual investors stop tracking their portfolios for fear of bad news

New York Met Life building Research Brief / Investing

How Life Insurers Insulate the Markets from Turmoil

Valentin Haddad’s research finds that insurers’ patient investing shields risky assets — and those who hold them — from steeper declines

Monochrome photo of Wall Street Research Brief / Investing

To Wall Street, There’s No Crisis Like a Banking Crisis

Tyler Muir finds that neither war nor deep recession darkens investor sentiment like sudden turmoil in the financial system

YouTube on a tablet computer Research Brief / Consumer Behavior

Taking the Battle for Financial Literacy to Where the Eyeballs Are

Research by Bruce Carlin and Stephen Spiller suggests YouTube videos could help consumers make better money decisions

Illustration of a woman with reflection of line chart going up Research Brief / Investing

How an Excess of Stock Analyst Optimism Lands on Companies Least Deserving of It

Results of financially weak firms are difficult to forecast; in uncertainty, Wall Street’s views are overly generous

Women in front of a stock ticker board Research Brief / Trading

Chinese Investors Learn about Derivatives the Hard Way

An analysis of warrant trading reveals individuals’ poor grasp of complex securities

Airplanes parked Research Brief / Accounting

Why Corporate Leasing Practices Deserve More Respect

Most companies use asset leasing for business reasons, not accounting window dressing

Illustration of a man stressed by laptops, smartphones Research Brief / Investing

How Tech’s Disruption Alters Investors’ Appetite for Risk

New technology’s upending of the old creates demand for alternative assets to offset risk

Street signs Research Brief / Interest Rates

Are Interest Rates Really So Low?

Adjusting for inflation — and, crucially, for taxes — shows bond investors fare better than they might think

Illustration of a balance Research Brief / Investing

How Very Small Stocks Skew Investing Wisdom

Well-known market anomalies are largely absent among the biggest stocks