In the world of quantitative trading,
traders and portfolio managers utilize more and more data these days.
So it’s not a surprise that the Economist calls data the “new oil”:
A NEW commodity spawns a lucrative, fast-growing industry,
prompting antitrust regulators to step in to restrain those who control
its flow. A century ago, the resource in question was oil. Now similar
concerns are being raised by the giants that deal in data, the oil of
the digital era. These titans—Alphabet (Google’s parent company),
Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft—look unstoppable. They are the
five most valuable listed firms in the world. Their profits are surging:
they collectively racked up over $25bn in net profit in the first
quarter of 2017. Amazon captures half of all dollars spent online in
America. Google and Facebook accounted for almost all the revenue growth
in digital advertising in America last year.
What has changed? Smartphones and the internet have made data
abundant, ubiquitous and far more valuable. Whether you are going for a
run, watching TV or even just sitting in traffic, virtually every
activity creates a digital trace—more raw material for the data
distilleries. As devices from watches to cars connect to the internet,
the volume is increasing: some estimate that a self-driving car will
generate 100 gigabytes per second. Meanwhile, artificial-intelligence
(AI) techniques such as machine learning extract more value from data.
Algorithms can predict when a customer is ready to buy, a jet-engine
needs servicing or a person is at risk of a disease. Industrial giants
such as GE and Siemens now sell themselves as data firms. Read more
This reminds us of the movie Wall Street that was released 30 years ago. Yes, it was 3 decades ago.
“The most valuable commodity I know of is information”
So is the Big Data old news on the Street?
ByMarketNews
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