Market contagion and herd mentality

Market contagion and herd mentality

Global markets have been in turmoil in recent days, with the prices of company shares and foreign exchange rates fluctuating wildly. Betty Wong, who covered Wall Street markets for years, takes a look at the herd mentality that can jolt markets around the world. By...

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Our Team News Decoder is the educational services unit of the French nonprofit Nouvelles-Découvertes, whose mission is to inform young people about international relations with tolerance, objectivity and broad vision. Our team is composed of a professional staff,...

Decoder: Investing in water isn’t money down the drain

Decoder: Investing in water isn’t money down the drain

Turn on the tap, and the world’s most valuable commodity pours out. Maybe it’s time to invest in water — to line our pockets and protect our planet. Clean water pours from a hose. Credit: Cassio Henrique. Getty Images. This article is the seventh in a...

Water is one of the most important commodities in the world. It is also tradable as companies seek to make money by purifying and distributing it. Some organizations that are pushing for climate change action are investing in water companies to pressure private industry to be better stewards of water. These investments in water stocks are proving to be financially profitable. 

Exercise: The story identifies a list of companies that provide water or water infrastructure: IDEX Corp., Xylem Inc., Danaher Corp., Ecolab, Roper Industries, Pentair Plc, Ferguson Plc and American Water Works Co. Inc. Divide students into investment teams with $1 million each to invest. Have them first brainstorm ways water and systems for providing water could be improved in their area or elsewhere. Then have them look up the website of one or more of those companies to see if they can tell what the company does to improve water supply or quality. Would their $1 million invested in that company help towards the improvements they identified as needed?