• Williams Girl Makes Good
    Posted by on July 21st, 2008 at 9:52 am

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    The New York Times profiles Erin Burnett:

    Every rising star needs a narrative, and Ms. Burnett believes hers is about taking risks. After graduating from Williams College in 1998, she says, she spent a forgettable year as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs.
    Unhappy in banking, she wrote a letter to Willow Bay, a former morning show correspondent and weekend host who had just become a co-anchor of the business news program “Moneyline” on CNN. It was a “stalker letter,” Ms. Burnett joked, but it worked: before long, she was Ms. Bay’s assistant and then a writer at CNN. But at first she didn’t want to stay in television.
    “For some people, it’s love at first sight, but it wasn’t for me,” she said. Her high school classmates in Mardela Springs, Md., a farming town on the Eastern Shore, seemed to know her better than she knew herself: they voted her most likely to host a TV talk show in 20 years, because they thought she talked a lot. “It’s true,” she said. “I’m kind of a motor mouth.”
    Ms. Burnett quit CNN and wound up writing the business plan for an Internet media start-up at Citigroup, the banking giant. When it came time to find an on-camera host, she decided to try it herself. From there she moved to Bloomberg, the news and data company that has become something of a farm team for CNBC. She started as a producer there before quickly snaring an anchor job.
    As with any anchor role, looks play their part and Ms. Burnett’s striking features have complemented her hard work, smoothing her ascent.

    Sheesh, get a room!

  • First They Came for the Foot Masseuses
    Posted by on July 21st, 2008 at 9:20 am

    Virginia Postrel found this article on the State of California’s bizarre campaign to crack down on…foot masseuses:

    The popularity of foot massage has risen as cutthroat competition has sent prices downward. But now, business owners are dealing with a new problem: a crackdown by county and state officials who have ruled that they need licenses from the state Board of Barbering and Cosmetology.

    Shouldn’t the “but now” be replaced with “as a result”?

  • Starbucks Closings
    Posted by on July 18th, 2008 at 3:53 am

    Starbucks released its list of 600 stores that are planned to be closed by early next year. My condolences to all the caffeine addicts out there.

  • A Little Perspective
    Posted by on July 18th, 2008 at 3:21 am

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  • Best Day Ever
    Posted by on July 17th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    I’ll have more on this later, but today was the best day ever for our Buy List relative to the market. The Buy List gained 2.95% which is 175 basis points better than the S&P 500. The big gainer today was Amphenol (APH) which added 14.6%.
    For the year, we’re down -11.23% compared with -14.17% for the rest of the market.

  • Department of Not Getting Markets
    Posted by on July 17th, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    From a Bloomberg article titled: Pakistani Investors Stone Exchange as Stocks Plunge.

    “We demand that all stock prices be frozen at current levels.”

    Now why didn’t I think of that?
    (Via: Felix).

  • Markets in Everything
    Posted by on July 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    At Intrade, Senator Obama’s contract to win the presidency is up to 66.1 and McCain’s is at 29.8.
    But here’s the noteworthy part. Hillary’s contract is still around and it’s at 4.6; Gore’s is at 2.0. Yesterday, a trade for Hillary went off at 6.9.
    Obviously, a tragic event isn’t the only scenario in mind. But still, is the unthinkable really that probable?

  • Danaher and Math
    Posted by on July 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm

    Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m going through Danaher’s (DHR) earnings report and the numbers don’t add up. For the second quarter, the company earned $363.448 million and the number of diluted shares is 336.551. That comes to $1.08 a share while the company lists it as $1.09. I know it’s just a penny, but there shouldn’t be any mistakes here. That really undermines my faith in a company.
    Am I missing something?

  • Banking Index +22%
    Posted by on July 16th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    The S&P Banking Index (^BIX) jumped 22% today. That’s not one stock; that’s the entire index!
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  • Is it Time to Raise Rates?
    Posted by on July 16th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    Megan McArdle says yes. Today’s inflation report shows that consumer prices rose by 1.1% last month which is the largest jump in 26 years. For the last 12 months, the headline rate has been 5.02% while the core rate is 2.41%. With the Fed at 2%, this means that real interest rates are still negative.
    The market isn’t expecting the Fed to raise rates anytime soon. According to the Cleveland Fed, the futures market is pretty much convinced (over 80%) that the Fed will hold steady at its August meeting.
    Going by Professor Mankiw’s Fed Funds Rate equation, the Fed is way too loose. His equations is:

    Federal funds rate = 8.5 + 1.4 (Core inflation – Unemployment)

    Let’s plug in the numbers the numbers from June:

    Federal funds rate = 8.5 + 1.4 (2.41 – 5.50)

    That comes to a rate of 4.174% which is more than double where the Fed is.