Archive for August, 2008

• I am Outta Here
  Eddy, August 30th, 2008 at 11:18 am

  I’m off to the Outer Banks for the week. I’ll be returning next Monday–tan, rested and ready. In the meantime, please check out the many [...]

• Ouch!
  Eddy, August 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

  From the FT: Merrill Lynch’s losses in the past 18 months amount to about a quarter of the profits it has made in its 36 [...]

• A Sell Signal
  Eddy, August 29th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

  From Marketwatch: Mitch Williams to Ring the NASDAQ Stock Market Opening Bell Afterward, he walked the next five traders.

• Did the Political Markets Fail?
  Eddy, August 29th, 2008 at 11:50 am

  Barry and Felix weigh in on Intrade’s call on the Palin selection. As I’ve said many times, the futures markets are not predictions markets. They’re [...]

• What If There Was a Recession and Nobody Came?
  Eddy, August 29th, 2008 at 11:42 am

  From today’s IBD: We keep looking for the much-anticipated recession, but it doesn’t seem to have gotten here yet. Could it be that many of [...]

• My Boldest Prediction Yet
  Eddy, August 28th, 2008 at 10:22 am

  Write down this time and day, and note that I’m calling a bottom in Pakistan’s stock market. In other news, Pakistan has barred stocks from [...]

• Latest Phony Concern: Delistings “Pinching” Exchanges
  Eddy, August 28th, 2008 at 10:08 am

  One of things I enjoy about the financial media is finding stories that are negative no matter what the outcome is. For example, you’re read [...]

• Q2 GDP Revised to 3.3%
  Eddy, August 28th, 2008 at 9:30 am

  The government just revised second-quarter GDP to 3.3% from the original 1.9%. That’s a pretty hefty increase. Record exports and the temporary stimulus from the [...]

• FDIC May Tap Treasury
  Eddy, August 28th, 2008 at 8:37 am

  The FDIC is designed to protect investors’ deposits up to $100,000. The FDIC’s fund currently has $45.2 billion which insures about $4.5 trillion. Sooo…who protects [...]

• An Interest Rate What?
  Eddy, August 27th, 2008 at 2:49 pm

• Citigroup to Cut Costs
  Eddy, August 27th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

  From Bloomberg: Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, banned off-site meetings among investment- banking employees and cut back on color photocopying to reduce [...]

• The Best Central Banker in the World Today
  Eddy, August 27th, 2008 at 11:58 am

  Imagine a country whose central bank responded to growing inflation by raising interest rates, strengthening the currency and trying to win investor confidence. This may [...]

• Looking at China's Savings
  Eddy, August 26th, 2008 at 9:45 am

  John Hempton at Bronte Capital has a novel explanation for China’s stratospheric savings rate. He says it’s due to their one-child policy. In any pre-Industrial [...]

• Looking at China’s Savings
  Eddy, August 26th, 2008 at 9:45 am

  John Hempton at Bronte Capital has a novel explanation for China’s stratospheric savings rate. He says it’s due to their one-child policy. In any pre-Industrial [...]

• How Investment Banks Can Cut Costs
  Eddy, August 26th, 2008 at 9:13 am

  From Andrew Ross Sorkin: When Wall Street seeks to save money — “every dollar saved is a dollar made,” is the current catchphrase — it [...]

• Tyler Cowen on the Economy
  Eddy, August 25th, 2008 at 10:02 am

  From Saturday’s NYT: Emerging from the current slowdown isn’t just a matter of political will or smart central banking. If the recipe for success requires [...]

• Ben Stein Watch
  Eddy, August 25th, 2008 at 9:50 am

  Felix Salmon regularly skewers Ben Stein’s incoherence in each week’s New York Times. (For the record, Stein’s the one who appears in the NYT, Felix [...]

• Best Line of the Day
  Eddy, August 25th, 2008 at 9:46 am

  Paul Kedrosky finds this gem from a French banker in 1907: The U.S. is a great financial nuisance. The Panic of 1907 was pretty ugly [...]

• The Weekend Is Here
  Eddy, August 22nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm

• Gas Prices Around the World
  Eddy, August 22nd, 2008 at 1:46 pm

  Here’s a cool map looking at gasoline prices around the world. I’m glad I don’t live in Turkey ($11.17/gallon). On the other hand, I’m not [...]