Without doubt, timely and democratic access to financial and market information contributes to smoothly functioning financial markets. But it’s worth asking whether the ubiquity of such information today is a friend or foe of sound investment decision-making. For all but the most active professional traders, the answer is often “no”.

The biggest problem, as studies have shown, is that investors tend to over-react to news, so its 24/7 availability harms their long-term success.