Ultra-rich likely to sell during a rout

New York

WHEN the going gets rough, the one per cent start selling.

That's the finding of a new paper that says people with the highest income bailed from stocks disproportionately on the worst days of the financial crisis. The share of selling by the biggest earners rose "sharply" in days following spikes in volatility, according to data on millions of sales reported to the US government in 2008 and 2009.