Archive for November, 2008

  • Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup
    , November 22nd, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    It had to happen sometime: November 20 (Bloomberg) — The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, [...]

  • That's Like Rearranging the SIVs off the Balance Sheet
    , November 21st, 2008 at 11:10 am

    The New York Times on Citigroup: Within the bank’s Manhattan offices, television screens have stopped displaying the company’s stock price. Traders have begun making jokes [...]

  • That’s Like Rearranging the SIVs off the Balance Sheet
    , November 21st, 2008 at 11:10 am

    The New York Times on Citigroup: Within the bank’s Manhattan offices, television screens have stopped displaying the company’s stock price. Traders have begun making jokes [...]

  • It Happened
    , November 21st, 2008 at 10:10 am

    Yesterday’s close: Dow = 7,552.29 S&P 500 = 752.44 Ratio = 10.037

  • Fun with Numbers
    , November 20th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    The S&P 500 hit an intra-day low this morning of 776.76. That’s the exact same level as the closing low from October 9, 2002, the [...]

  • Buffett’s Stock Slump
    , November 20th, 2008 at 12:10 am

    The Drudge headline says “Now Buffett in stock slump!” Berkshire was down 12% on Wednesday. Now let’s take a look at BRKA divided by the [...]

  • TIPs Yields
    , November 19th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    Here’s a look at the current TIPs yields-to-maturity listed by maturity date.

  • A 40-Year Look
    , November 19th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    The S&P 500 closed at a 68-month low today. Given that the CPI report came out today, here’s an interesting stat. Adjusted for inflation, the [...]

  • Heading Towards Deflations
    , November 19th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    The TIPs say deflation is coming and may stay around for a bit: Yet, if you believe the yields on US Treasury inflation protected bonds, [...]

  • Inflation and Stocks
    , November 19th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    With today’s report showing how steeply prices fell last month, I wanted to revisit the issue of inflation’s impact on stock prices. Let me add [...]

  • Gene Simmons Rings the Opening Bell
    , November 19th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

    What else needs to be said?

  • CPI Posts Biggest Drop in 61 Years
    , November 19th, 2008 at 11:42 am

    The headline rate dropped by 1% last month which was the most since monthly record began, although the numbers in the database go back to [...]

  • More on Corporate Bond Spreads and Their Impact on Equities
    , November 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    Michael Stokes stokes picks up on my post from last week, and finds that “high spreads have been bullish for the stock market, except when [...]

  • If There Was Something We Could Have Done….
    , November 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    Citigroup hits 13-year low:

  • Ken French on Why Commodities are a Bad Investment Idea
    , November 18th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

  • Looking at Harvard's Endowment
    , November 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    Daniel Gross looks at the (mis)management of Harvard’s endowment portfolio. Or as he says, “looks like it was chosen by someone who watched a few [...]

  • Looking at Harvard’s Endowment
    , November 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    Daniel Gross looks at the (mis)management of Harvard’s endowment portfolio. Or as he says, “looks like it was chosen by someone who watched a few [...]

  • Obama to Detroit: Drop Dead
    , November 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    Or at least, that’s what he should say. The UK Times sums it up well: Rescuing ailing industries represents a retreat to comforting orthodoxies by [...]

  • The Problem with Point Spreads
    , November 18th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

    I’ve written before that football point spreads aren’t too different from stock prices. The point spreads are merely set by the bookies so they can [...]

  • The Real Price of Gas
    , November 18th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    Over the summer, the price for a oil of oil peaked at $147.27 a barrel. I know we’re all supposed to be worry about this, [...]