Play the financial markets: it’s not rocket science

Back in the 1950s, economists developed Nobel Prize-winning theories for how best to invest money in financial markets. And 【小题1】 (do) it, they drew on the theory of probability. The result was Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), 【小题2】 shows how to create a mix of stocks, bonds and other assets (股票、证券和其他资产) to get the best possible return for the 【小题3】 (low) risk. By feeding in past performance data for each asset, the formulas of MPT reveal the relative proportions of each 【小题4】 (need) to achieve this best performance.

To pull off this miracle, MPT involves some fearsome equations that only rocket scientists might 【小题5】 (expect) to solve. But—like any attempt to model reality with mathematics—MPT makes assumptions, and the bad news is 【小题6】 they’re not very realistic. A wealth of data now suggests that MPT simply cannot capture the real complexity of markets, 【小题7】 (make) its conclusions not that trustworthy.

Even Harry Markowitz, the US economist who won the economics Nobel Prize in 1990 for developing MPT, 【小题8】 (admit) he ignored his own theory and simply split his investments equally between stocks and bonds.

The lesson of the laws of chance this time is: don’t get too clever. When it comes to investment, history suggests most of us may do best 【小题9】 simply dividing our money among so-called index trackers that just follow entire sectors of the market—and then forget about them 【小题10】 we retire. After all, caution is the best policy.

TikTok, a hugely popular short-form video platform, shut down its Shop apparatus in Indonesia after the country banned commerce 【小题1】 social media platforms, a setback for the app’s venture in a major market. TikTok Shop is one of the social network’s latest attempts 【小题2】 (generate) more revenue. Creators and brands can add a Shop button 【小题3】 their videos and live broadcasts, 【小题4】 (allow) users to buy products with a few taps without leaving the app.

The app 【小题5】 (it) was not banned in Indonesia. But people there could no longer buy or sell goods through TikTok or other social media platforms after the trade ministry issued new regulations. The rules, 【小题6】 essentially authorize the separation of e-commerce and social media, 【小题7】 (mean) to protect local merchants, prevent algorithms from dominating the market and stop the use of personal data for business purposes.

Zulkifli Hasan, Indonesia’s trade minister, said recently that “predatory pricing” by social media companies was hurting small merchants.Some Indonesian merchants who had relied on TikTok Shop said the new rules hurt their business. Dennies Soesanto, who sells bags and suitcases, said his sales on TikTok Shop were triple that of other e-commerce platforms. “【小题8】 (close) TikTok Shop is not saving the small and medium enterprises,” he said, “but saving other e-commerce platforms.”

The crackdown in Indonesia, home 【小题9】 six million sellers on TikTok, could increase the pressure on TikTok Shop in the other countries 【小题10】 it operates.

In June, 2021, China had about 285 million Internet users living in rural areas, 【小题1】(account) for over 30 percent of the country’s total, according to a report on China’s Internet development. The number of rural Internet users in China 【小题2】 (grow) by over 30 million in few months.

The report said the Internet is playing a 【小题3】 (great) role than ever in the country’s poverty reduction efforts, with the public’s participation in and recognition of relevant campaigns on the rise. It said as of June, online promotions of 【小题4】 (agriculture) products from remote areas had reached more than half of the Chinese Internet users, 【小题5】that more than one third of netizens had bought such products via online platforms.

Meanwhile, the report shows that e-commerce live streaming(直播) grew【小题6】 (increasing) active in the first half of the year. As of June, the number of e-commerce live streaming【小题7】 (use) in China had hit 309 million. China saw over 10 million live marketing activities in the first half of this year, attracting over 50 billion views, the report noted.

The report said the Internet can contribute significantly【小题8】China’s rural revitalization goal by providing jobs, social security and medical service information for【小题9】poor and allowing children in poverty-stricken areas 【小题10】 (access) better education.