February 23, 2009
Assuming rumors of AIG's Q4 results are correct -- $60-billion in losses -- we will have on our hands the largest loss in U.S. corporate history. That is, of course, impressive, but it is the downbound trajectory that has me...
Cute new Nike ad on the occasion of golfer Tiger Woods' return from injury to competition next week. Best part is at the end. In case you're curious, the backing song is Lesley Gore's classic "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" from...
Anecdotes do not make a science. Ten anecdotes are no better than one, and a hundred anecdotes are no better than ten. -- Frank Sulloway (p. 93 of Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown by Michael...
A look at the spread between gold and oil (as measured by USO and GLD) over the past twelve months. We have now inverted, plus-plus:...
A quick snapshot from Finviz today of what the carnage looked like in bank land. Turns out discovering that common equity at many big banks is on an inexorable path to being wiped out is good news. Gosh, who would...
You know, apparently even some of the most awful things have an upside, including terrorist attacks: After controlling for the fixed-effect of each district and for district-specific time trends, we show that terror attacks reduce property crimes such as burglary,...
Boom, one day your car goes boom, boom! Don't just give up all in gloom! Autocar to the rescue! -- Adventures of Tintin: The Land of Black Gold My friend Nassim Taleb explains how U.S. banks, like cars...
A few folks have sent this, so here you are, Chris Wood from the Japan Forum making the case for immediate U.S. bank nationalization to forestall a crisis worse than Japan’s lost decade: According to Wood, not only will gold...
From The Guardian of London: Police are preparing for a "summer of rage" as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned. Britain's most senior police officer with responsibility for...
I ran across a comment recently where someone argued that the U.S. had the most precious thing in the economic world: demand. It’s an interesting point of view, even if that “asset” is declining quickly. Other countries must advance by...
Good column in Times of London on how people are treated differently, depending on whether they mugged you on the street or in the banking system. Our system for regulating markets and for prosecuting market crime is completely broken. If...
Idle thought, but it would surprise me zero to see a monster, multi-day market rally in here sometime soon. I am, of course, applying my proprietary Every Trader I Know is Horribly Depressed (tm) indicator, with an overlay of Bloomberg...
Hedge fund lies, darned lies and statistics... (Harold Bradley) Securitisation and Financial Stability (Source) Petrobras, China Sign Long-Term Oil Deal (emii) How to set up a new 'good bank' (FT) Let housing find its clearing price (Reuters) Portfolio rebalancing...
Here is what the National Basketball Association is paying on a new debt facility versus what it paid before the credit crisis: Now: 8.27% Then: 5.27% If the only positive outcomes that derive from this crisis are banks as utilities...
A WSJ piece tonight about the inordinate number of unused freight cars currently parked on U.S. rail sidings tonight got me thinking about trains. My kids like to go to the San Diego Train Museum, which is, I'm told, one...
Fan-boy cycle-geek material ahead … I know it's nowhere near the first time this sort of thing has been done, but I really liked the live Internet site/thingie/tool for watching the just-completed Tour of California. It combined live data, like...
A confession: I've been offline most of the weekend and am only now catching up on the usual Sunday night chatter about how it's the end of the world as we know it. Of course, there is lots of evidence...
