• This Just In
    Posted by on June 20th, 2007 at 9:57 am

    Bernanke: Banks still important

  • A Good Run Doesn’t Mean a Stock is Too Expensive
    Posted by on June 20th, 2007 at 9:53 am

    A quick note on FactSet (FDS). This is a good reminder that just because a stock is up doesn’t mean it’s too expensive. FactSet was on last year’s Buy List and it rose 37.2% making it our second-best performer. I decided to keep it on this year’s Buy List and it’s up 20.6% so far, again our second-best performer.
    Also, just because a stock is down doesn’t mean it’s cheap. I’ve often heard people say, “how much lower can it go?” The answer is, a lot. A whole lot. I remember my finance professor explaining how low zero is. A $100 stock can drop 90%, then another 90%, then another 90% and it’s still not at zero. In fact, it can drop 90% infinitely and still not be at zero. Zero is really, really, really, REALLY small, and that’s how low it can go.

  • Oh Dear Lord
    Posted by on June 19th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

  • The Vietnam War Is Officially Over
    Posted by on June 19th, 2007 at 4:04 pm

    We won.

    Mr. Carter added that he was looking forward to the day the first Vietnamese company lists on the NYSE.

    Suck on that, hippies.

  • Guess the Stock
    Posted by on June 19th, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    Here’s a 12-year chart:
    image481.png
    Give up? Answer is after the jump.

    Read more…

  • When Wall Street Couples Cash Out
    Posted by on June 19th, 2007 at 11:38 am

    From the LA Times:

    The flood of cash into so-called hedge fund communities in New York, Connecticut and California has proved fatal to many marriages — and a windfall for lawyers, psychiatrists and forensic accountants who specialize in the superrich.
    “There is no question that a huge infusion of wealth to relatively young people has a disastrous effect on the marriage’s stability,” says Bern Clare, a Manhattan divorce lawyer.
    Divorce hedge fund-style often means the judges involved must cope with pre- and post-nuptial agreements, years of fights over access to hedge fund accounts and monetary demands well into eight and nine figures.
    “When you are dealing with the uber-wealthy, you are dealing with the uber-lawyers,” says Kevin Tierney, the presiding judge of the family division in the Stamford-Norwalk district of Connecticut, where many hedge fund families live. “They have accountants and paralegals and dueling experts.”
    Further complicating matters is that the value of the assets involved, unlike real estate or jewelry, is highly variable, depending on the gyrations of the stock market and other investments.
    “You can have an asset change by $1 million while a witness is on the stand,” Tierney says.

  • FactSet Beats Estimates
    Posted by on June 19th, 2007 at 8:58 am

    FactSet Research Systems (FDS) just reported very good earnings. After charges, the company earned 52 cents a share, a penny higher than forecasts. Sales rose 23% to $121.1 million. FDS also said it expects sales this quarter of $126 million to $130 million while analysts were expecting sales $125 million.

  • Town Has Its Own Currency
    Posted by on June 19th, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Not only is the dollar losing support overseas, it’s not even doing well in Massachusetts.

    “I just love the feel of using a local currency,” said Trice Atchison, 43, a teacher who used BerkShares to buy a snack at a cafe in Great Barrington, a town of about 7,400 people. “It keeps the profit within the community.”
    There are about 844,000 BerkShares in circulation, worth $759,600 at the fixed exchange rate of 1 BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper scrip is available in denominations of one, five, 10, 20 and 50.
    In their 10 months of circulation, they’ve become a regular feature of the local economy. Businesses that accept BerkShares treat them interchangeably with dollars: a $1 cup of coffee sells for 1 BerkShare, a 10 percent discount for people paying in BerkShares.

    Interesting idea. My only problem is the fixed exchange rate. No exchange rate is truly fixed, as the users of BerkShares will one day learn.

  • Breaking: Terry Semel Resigns
    Posted by on June 18th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

    Terry Semel is out at Yahoo (YHOO). The stock is up in the after-hours market. Susan Decker has been named president.
    Two months ago, I wrote:

    I say that Decker will replace Terry Semel before the summer is over.

    Even I was too optimistic since summer doesn’t start for a few more days.

  • The Lula Rally
    Posted by on June 18th, 2007 at 6:53 am

    Yale’s Robert Shiller looks at the Brazilian stock market. Since Lula took over in 2002, the stock market is up over 300%.

    Stock-market movements are certainly hard to explain, but there are reasons to believe that Brazilians might be rationally exuberant. Corporate earnings in Brazil have gone up roughly as fast as stock prices. With the price/earnings ratio remaining stable and moderate, the stock-market boom does not appear to reflect mere investor psychology.
    On the contrary, the real question is why the increase in stock prices has not outpaced growth in corporate earnings.

    Apparently, leftists are having a love affair with the stock market. Or at least, a good stock market.
    Well, maybe not all leftists. Hillary’s gone 100% cash:

    Given her history — recall her preposterous cattle future windfall — Mrs. Clinton is bound to be sensitive about her financial dealings. But in recent history, few candidates have felt compelled to go to an all-cash asset allocation to avoid potential conflicts. Al Gore, who in 2000 made a point of saying he avoided all stock-market investments, is a notable exception, if not one Mrs. Clinton should be eager to emulate. His populist campaign riff was a bust.

    But in retrospect, wasn’t Gore’s timing pretty good? (Also, going by the numbers, I’m not sure his campaign was a bust.)