In the early to mid-1600s, Holland was home to one of the most famous market bubbles and crashes of all time.
The key players? Tulip bulbs… and investor greed.
When tulips were first imported from Turkey into Western Europe, they quickly became a luxury item. They were unlike any flowers native to the continent. So the wealthy citizens of Holland demanded this exotic plant for their gardens. The middle class followed suit, and soon the country was possessed by “tulipmania.”
Speculation drove the prices of tulip bulbs to breathtaking highs. At the height of the market, the rarest tulip bulbs traded for as much as six times the average person’s annual salary.
Then it all came crashing down… and now the mere mention of tulip bulbs is enough to remind investors of the danger of market bubbles.
In today’s market, as Nicholas Vardy pointed out recently, this cautionary tale is ominously familiar…
Financial bubbles blow when wildly exaggerated stock stories become untethered from share prices.
And by some measures, the current U.S. stock market may be the greatest financial bubble in history…
Whether it was RCA in 1929, Russian stocks in 1998 or Tesla in 2020, bubble stocks always burst.
It’s not a question of if but when.
We wanted to see how many readers agree with Nicholas. So we asked in this week’s Twitter poll, “Do you think we’re in a financial bubble right now?”
An overwhelming 73% responded yes.
It’s a good thing Nicholas and Alexander Green keep churning out valuable investment insights… because we need them more than ever.
Click here to see the results of this week’s poll. And stay tuned for the next one.