The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and four other central banks lowered interest rates in an unprecedented coordinated effort to ease the economic effects of […]
Financial Musings
A Little History…
For those of us old enough to remember, a little history to inject into today’s collapse from Pat Pisapia… Oct 6, 1998: spot USD/JPY trades from […]
Google For $0.01?
When you look at the order books of listed stocks you’ll often see phantom bids at $0.01 and offers up at extraordinary levels like $1,000,000.00. […]
Stocks, Oil Plunge After Congress Rejects Bailout
I think this Blomberg article from today pretty much sums it all up for September 29, 2008. Can it get any crazier? Jeez, my brain […]
European Versus US Bank Leverage
There’s a lot of talk about leverage so here’s a comparison of assets versus equity. Assets are from end of financial year, and they don’t […]
Who Pays For FDIC Insurance?
Doom and gloom from Ché Garcia… FDIC insures all accounts up to $100,000 at its member banks, and it has never failed to honor a […]
Fannie Mae Eases Credit Requirements
Check out this article from the New York Times in 1999. Doesn’t this just boil your blood?! Steven A. Holmes, September 30 1999 In a […]
The Ultimate Short Squeeze
As you can imagine, a lot of people involved in the financial markets these days are very edgy. Millions of pairs of eyes are focused […]
Why Paulson is Wrong
Luigi Zingales Robert C. McCormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance University of Chicago When a profitable company is hit by a very large liability, as […]
Is It Over Yet?
Now and then I put posts up here not so much for other people to read (although if they do that’s why this is on […]
LIBOR Under Attack
The article below from Risk Magazine (click on the image for the whole article). Quite an interesting read, a very good insight into the interbank […]
Oil Staircase
We headed back to sub- $100 territory? The last five days of oil futures trading…
Oil Takes a Tumble…
Rumors that a large hedge fund couldn’t make its margin calls and had it’s long CL positions closed out… Who knows what’s going on with […]
Higher Rates Make Foreign Funds Attractive
The Lure of Currency ETFs
An interesting article sent to me today about some of the ETFs I’ve recently been working on. Someone had a good idea just at the […]
Confessions of a Money Manager With Nowhere to Go
David Pauly, Bloomberg News Dear shareholders of the Sophocles Value Fund: Sorry to tell you this, but I’m stumped. There’s no place I can invest […]
Quit Hammering the Speculators
On the radio, in the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, wherever I go, mysterious “speculators” get blamed for the hike in prices of commodities. Particularly oil. […]
Opium for Wheat
An interesting result of the soaring cereal crop prices: the Taliban are having their heroin cash crop usurped by farmers who want to reap the […]
Inga Dam
A lot of people probably think the building of a massive hydroelectric dam in a developing African nation is a good thing. Economic stimulation, sustainable […]
No Sex at Deutsche Bank
Looks like the executives over at Deutsche are going to be forfeiting some of the pleasantries they’ve gotten used to. I mean, c’mon, don’t you […]