Fight the Tape

Isn't that a rap song? Eh, maybe they were talking about fighting the power, not tape. 

Anyway, the tape here refers to ticker tape, in the old way that Wall Street used to publish stock prices to white men who wore suits with vests. Fighting the tape refers to a tape which "wants to" go down, i.e. the market feels determined to sell off for a while, despite good news being issued from companies' quarterly earnings. Fighting it refers to an investor buying shares in an individual company, hoping the stock goes up... but it doesn't.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)