CNBC financial analyst shares tips with students

by Ben Briscoe

CNBC financial analyst Ron Insana stressed the importance of young people using the markets to predict trends at the William O’Neil lecture Monday.

He said that if done properly, students could make some money and, more importantly, tell which career fields will be hot when they graduate.

To back up his argument, Insana referred to a theory by fellow CNBC analyst Art Cashin.

On the day that President John F. Kennedy was shot, Cashin observed that the stock market fell dramatically nine minutes before word about the event even hit the news stations.

Insana said that Cashin went on to formulate that markets sometimes move seemingly in advance of major events.

Insana presented this theory in his new book, The Message of the Markets, and at the lecture by saying that, “Financial markets tend to be the effective wisdom of informed investors and the prices reflect it.”

Economics with financial applications major Andrew Matza says that while Insana has a good point, he wanted more from the speech.

“It’s pretty common knowledge that markets move with or right before major news events because those in the know are those who own stock, so there was nothing too groundbreaking there,” he said. “What I really would have liked to see instead would have been more tips on how to predict these trends. That’s what you expect from a famed financial analyst.”

Insana’s main tip for prediction was to pay special attention to the crossroads between the media and the financial industry.

“Really good financial analysts will know almost as much about mainstream current events as they do the business world,” he said, “because today you can’t have one without the other.”

That’s the main reason that Meadows School of the Arts and the Cox School of Business are starting the William J. O’Neil Center for Business and Financial Reporting. The center will have classes for a B.B.A major in business and financial reporting and host campus events in the subject like this lecture series.

Belo Distinguished Chair in Journalism Tony Pederson said in an introduction to Insana’s speech that the degree plan was created because the job market demands it.

“I think SMU is in the vanguard for something key to the new world of journalism,” Pederson said.

Funding for the new program will come from a $4.5 million dollar donation from SMU alumnus Bill O’Neil.

Since graduating from the university in 1955, O’Neil founded the company that started Investor’s Business Daily, along with other publications.

Candidates interviewing for the endowed chair position of the new department are in the process of visiting campus this semester, and the department hopes to makes a pick by the beginning of the summer.
Limited classes for the program should start in the fall with a full schedule beginning in spring.