April 2, 2008
Quote of the day comes from an article on the brokenness of the venture capital secondary market. Never much of a market in the first place, it's no more fun than usual -- as always, the people who most want...
Great. Ben Bernanke has decided to steal a page from his predecessor and has started coining quotable phrases. Alan Greenspan had "irrational exuberance" and, yes, "infectious greed" to his name, and today Bernanke coins "chaotic unwinding". Do these Fed chairs...
This is sort of a zen question: What strategy does a hedge fund manager follow who has lost his fund because of investor redemptions? The answer forthwith: Daniel Zwirn, the New York-based manager who is shutting down a $4 billion...
I wrote yesterday about disappearing iPhones, so continuing on the Encyclopedia Brown approach to investing, let's talk about the case of the missing oil. With most major economies weakening, oil prices through the roof, U.S. refinery utilization at near-term lows,...
Despite weakening commodities and strong export ties to a stumbling U.S. economy, Brazilian markets are still motoring along. After being down for the first three months of the year, the Bovespa index is now flat on the year, and only...
With news today of major management changes at PMC-Sierra, plus Broadcom bouncing along the bottom, and issues elsewhere, am I the only one feeling like we should finally be seeing some consolidation? This sector, while marginally better positioned for...
Here is Bloomberg with the dubious financial headline of the day: Moody's Is Least Accurate Subprime-Bond Rating Firm Is that like being the least accurate earthquake forecaster, or more like being the least accurate millennial cult member?...
In a new and interesting interview in MIT's Technology Review magazine economist Robert Merton -- of Long Term Capital Management fame, and, oh yes, a Nobel prizewinner -- offers some musings on risk in the capital markets. He is a...
I don't often talk about tools and productivity stuff here, but I thought a quick digression would be in order. I consume a lot -- okay, an awful lot -- of information on a daily basis. Sometimes it gets overwhelming,...
