The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) holds that stocks are always fairly valued because their prices reflect all the information available. Therefore, proponents argue, there's no way for an individual to meaningfully increase their returns relative to the rest of the market. The efficient market hypothesis says that the markets are privy to any and all available information, and that securities are priced accordingly. In other words, all the stocks on a given exchange or index such as the S&P 500 are trading at a fair price. So, in theory, it shouldn't be possible for an investor to outperform the index using any ... (full story)