Economists said foreign investors generally act in concert, but the Japanese react fastest.

As a result, investors are having trouble assessing new bond issues and are acting with caution.

Yesterday was even more confounding, since investors and traders were acting contrarian.

Yet neither Xerox nor investors were acting as though the company was in serious trouble yesterday.

Today, it said, these investors do act in tandem on occasion, not by design but because they subscribe to very similar strategies.

Numerous institutional investors act as intermediaries between lenders and borrowers.

"I think we're now in a place where institutional investors are acting like owners, and that's a good thing for the capital markets."

Germany's interest rate cuts yesterday should have been good news for the American bond market, but investors and traders did not act like it was.

But investors acted as though they had seen a ghost, and the stock price sank.

Both men believe that money can be made in stocks precisely because investors often act irrationally.