Investors Seek an Edge By Using Technology That Reads Between the Lines

Ever since British economist John Maynard Keynes first declared that investors are prey to people's urge to act, however irrationally, the financial world has tried to quantify the impact of public sentiment on stock prices. Solving the puzzle would give investors in the know a huge advantage over the competition. Over the past decade, one vibrant corner of that still ongoing research has been data analysis. The goal has been to tease out clues about sentiment that are hidden in news articles, regulatory filings, transcripts, and press releases. With the rise of artificial intelligence, the sophistication of sentiment-measuring technology is increasing.