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Tina – ‘there is no alternative’ – is the only Wall Street acronym that matters

By shunning stocks when their prospects seem poor and alternatives seem enticing, you will miss more rallies than crashes

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    • Over a year or two, stocks can decline without taking everything else with them, but essentially all investments require robust long-term growth in corporate profits to provide good inflation-adjusted total returns.
    • Over a year or two, stocks can decline without taking everything else with them, but essentially all investments require robust long-term growth in corporate profits to provide good inflation-adjusted total returns. PHOTO: AFP

    Aaron Brown

    Published Fri, Mar 10, 2023 · 10:00 AM

    IN FINANCIAL markets, the acronym Tina stands for “there is no alternative”, and is typically uttered by investment analysts and advisors in reference to equities. It is most often bandied about when the performance of stocks is disappointing and their future prospects seem anaemic, yet valuations remain high.

    Even if there are no good reasons to buy stocks at the moment, Tina argues investors should stay in the market because there is no other place to go.

    Starting about six months ago, analysts from top Wall Street firms began attacking Tina, claiming there are actually good alternatives to stocks for investors. For example, on Sep 26, the strategists at Goldman Sachs promoted Tara – “there are reasonable alternatives” – over Tina, recommending investors underweight stocks in favour of cash.

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