Archive for March, 2009

  • Pounding the Tables for Sysco
    , March 25th, 2009 at 8:41 am

    Barron’s has nice things to say about Sysco (SYY), one of our Buy List stocks: There’s no doubt that Sysco, the nation’s largest foodservice distributor, [...]

  • Bond Auction FAIL
    , March 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am

    The British government tried to auction off 1.75 billion pounds worth of 4.25% 40-year bonds. The total bids they got were only worth 1.63 billion [...]

  • Top Hedge Fund Earnings Last Year
    , March 25th, 2009 at 8:18 am

    Alpha Magazine looks at what the top hedgies pulled down last year: 1. James Simons (Renaissance Technologies Corp.) $2.5 billion 2. John Paulson (Paulson & [...]

  • Yesterday's Rally
    , March 24th, 2009 at 10:15 am

    The S&P 500 had its fourth-best day yesterday since the 1930s. The top two days came last October. Number three came after the market crash [...]

  • Yesterday’s Rally
    , March 24th, 2009 at 10:15 am

    The S&P 500 had its fourth-best day yesterday since the 1930s. The top two days came last October. Number three came after the market crash [...]

  • Paging Sherman McCoy
    , March 24th, 2009 at 9:58 am

    From Bloomberg: Eat-What-You-Kill Bond Traders Rise From Wall Street Wreckage Wall Street bond trading is heading back to the 1980s, when private partnerships and independent [...]

  • Hey Can I Play?
    , March 23rd, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    Timmy’s plan is a pretty good deal for institutional investors. You basically have the government as your silent partner and your downside is limited. James [...]

  • Hedge-Fund Investors Hire Private Investigators
    , March 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    Bloomberg finds an interesting story; investors in hedge funds are hiring private investigators to look into the funds: Background checks can take from two to [...]

  • AIG Renames Itself
    , March 23rd, 2009 at 11:41 am

    AIU. At least the good parts will be called that. It really doesn’t seem like much of a change.

  • Application to Be in the Treasury's Bank Plan
    , March 23rd, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Curious about how to be a private investor in Timmy’s bank plan? Well, let’s just say you are. Here’s the application. The requirements are: Fund [...]

  • Application to Be in the Treasury’s Bank Plan
    , March 23rd, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Curious about how to be a private investor in Timmy’s bank plan? Well, let’s just say you are. Here’s the application. The requirements are: Fund [...]

  • The Swedish Model
    , March 23rd, 2009 at 8:06 am

    I’ve reluctantly come to the conclusion that we ought to nationalize our failing banks. Interestingly, my support for this position comes from looking at Sweden’s [...]

  • The Timmy Plan
    , March 23rd, 2009 at 7:53 am

    The Treasury Department has announced its bank plan: The federal government will use up to $100 billion in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, [...]

  • The Sweet Sixteen
    , March 22nd, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    The selection committee did a pretty good job this year. The sweet sixteen consists of four #1s, four #2s, four #3s, two #4s, a #5 [...]

  • Lehman Stress Balls, Paperweights, Bags Coughed Up by Barclays
    , March 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Not sure what to make of this: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has negotiated the return of thousands of Lehman-logoed knickknacks that were mistakenly transferred to [...]

  • Weekend Poll
    , March 20th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Whom would you vote for in an election between an honest idealist and an untrustworthy pragmatist? ( surveys)

  • Gold Against Stocks
    , March 20th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Gold has had a pretty good run over the past few years. But over the past few decades, gold has badly trailed stocks. Here’s a [...]

  • Prices Are Still Down
    , March 20th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    I thought this was in interesting chart. Prices are still down, though energy prices have made a large impact.

  • AIG Outrage
    , March 20th, 2009 at 9:59 am

    Michael Lewis on AIG hysteria: Every recriminatory bone in the political body is aroused; the one thing you can do right now in Washington without [...]

  • NCAA Tournament First Two Rounds
    , March 18th, 2009 at 11:26 pm

    Here’s a look at how seeds have performed during the first two rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Seed…….Round One……Round Two #1……………96-0……………84-12 #2……………92-4……………60-32 #3……………81-15………….48-33 #4……………76-20………….41-35 [...]