Momentum is a powerful force in driving investment performance, but carries significant dangers too, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of  The Price of Time, a brilliant book about the folly of sustained low interest rates. Reproduced here with the author's permission.  

Human nature at work - beware! In the investment world, the practice of blindly following market trends is known as momentum. When it takes off, investors who select stocks based on fundamental criteria start to trail their benchmarks. Disappointed clients take their money elsewhere. The temptation for the va...