Roughly $11.1 trillion has been wiped away from the U.S. stock market since Jan. 17, the Friday before President Donald Trump took the oath of office and began his second term, according to data from Dow Jones Market Data.
Some $6.6 trillion of that figure was lost on Thursday and Friday alone — the largest two-day wipeout of shareholder value on record, Dow Jones data showed.
the thing that didn’t exist in the first place evaporated. that doesn’t sound weird to you?
also “how much people think a company will be profitable”… you just described a confidence game and gambling.
It is like you said. Its artificial value. Its value generated, by how much people are willing to pay for a share of it. And as you rightfully realised, its basically gambling. You can make predictions based on the current trend (what ever trend it may be),but its still gambling.