TheStreet's founder and Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer spoke at the Financial Times Future of News event in New York City Thursday, March 22, 2018, about how fake news impacts markets.
Cramer was interviewed by billionaire investor Ken Fisher, Chairman of Fisher Investments.
Ken Fisher "We had yellow journalism... it's not new. It's just now proliferated onto platforms and other functions. How is it that people do things, what exactly do they do why is it that no one notices? And, oh by the way, where is the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) in this?"
Jim Cramer "Look, the latter is very quizzical, because the SEC should be looking at all of this."
Ken Fisher "Can they? Do they have the breadth to do that?
Jim Cramer "Maybe their budget doesn't allow them. But, they have a market surveillance group that should be able to look at something that's popped. And then went down the next day and then question why it popped and then work backwards."
Cramer continued to give an example about an article by Vanity Fair Hive with the headline 'Will Apple Buy Snap?' (AAPL) (SNAP) The headline beneath that read 'Assessing the Wisdom of an Increasingly Popular Silicon Valley Dinner Party Parlor Game'. He tells Fisher that he doubts anyone read that second headline and instead invested based off of a a headline that surfaced on social media that came from an opinion piece. Cramer says "The bridge between opinion and fact needs to be blown up...'
Watch Jim Cramer's entire talk about how fake news affects markets.
