March 2010
45 posts
4 tags
Bullish Views!
My friend Kaizad might have noticed a *slightly* gloomy series of posts and sent me some “contrarian” views that I found very interesting: Hedge Fund Ellington Management’s Equity Outlook 2010 Michael Vranos & Ellington Management Bullish On Housing By the way, I am reading a highly recommended book called Predictably Irrational authored by MIT Sloan professor Dan Ariely,...
Mar 30th
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Mar 29th
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It Is An Interconnected World
John Mauldin says it best in his latest weekly newsletter What Does Greece Mean to You?: Why is Greece important? Because so much of their debt is on the books of European banks. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth. And just a few years ago this seemed like a good thing. The rating agencies made Greek debt AAA, and banks could use massive leverage (almost 40 times in some European banks) and...
Mar 29th
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Private equity firms cut fees to stay afloat -... →
Mar 29th
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US Yields Are Not Turning Japanese
With Quantitative Easing coming to an end, even a deleveraging private sector cannot absorb a wall of supply. From WSJ - Debt Fears Send Rates Up: This week, some investors turned up their noses at three big U.S. Treasury offerings. Demand was weak for a $44 billion 2-year note auction on Tuesday, a $42 billion sale of 5-year debt on Wednesday and a $32 billion 7-year note sale Thursday. ...
Mar 26th
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“The euro exchange rate is a tighter grip than the gold standard was”
– Nicholas Crafts, an economics history professor at Warwick University on Europe’s Next Great Test: Competitiveness Is Lacking - WSJ.com
Mar 26th
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Mar 25th
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U.S. Government Burn Rate Is $300 Billion a Month
Yes, the US are burning that much cash every month, or a about a trillion dollar a quarter. US Debt Update: 6 Months To Revised Debt Ceiling Breach
Mar 24th
2 notes
7 tags
Mar 24th
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Risk-Free in the New Normal
In the new normal, high-quality corporate bonds may yield less than government bonds: Two-year notes sold by the billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in February yield 3.5 basis points less than Treasuries of similar maturity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Procter & Gamble Co., Johnson & Johnson and Lowe’s Cos. debt also traded at lower yields in recent weeks, a situation...
Mar 23rd
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Mar 23rd
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The G7 100% Club
United State, France and UK will join Italy and Japan in the G7 100% (public debt over gdp ratio) club by 2014. Mr. Lipsky said the average ratio of debt to gross domestic product in advanced economies was expected this year to reach the level that prevailed in 1950. Even assuming that fiscal stimulus programs are withdrawn in the next few years, that ratio is projected to rise to 110...
Mar 22nd
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YouTube P&L and Balance Sheet 2005-2006
YouTube’s Finances Before the Google Acquisition | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD make for a great read: YouTube Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet 2005-2006
Mar 22nd
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Mar 21st
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Mar 21st
4 tags
Financial Data Golden Goose
I really like the idea of Data Marketplace, a startup setting up a marketplace for structured data. Financial data is a golden goose yet to be disrupted by the internet forces … Other interesting ventures in the “structured” data, more or less inspired by the Wikipedia model, are www.freebase.com and www.factual.com. Techcrunch coverage: YC-Funded Data Marketplace Is An...
Mar 20th
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JGB yield curve steepens as big buyers' faith... →
Is it time to short yen yet?
Mar 20th
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Mar 20th
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“Victor Shih, an assistant professor of political science at Northwestern...”
– Rethinking China’s Debt - WSJ.com
Mar 19th
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Mar 18th
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Pioneering Fund Stages Second Act - WSJ.com →
Coverage on some of the history of Renaissance Technologies.
Mar 18th
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Mar 17th
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“Could it be that Mr Schauble might actually want to convince the Greeks and...”
– Great commentary to extremist proposal by German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble via Wolfgang Schauble’s torture chamber | Gideon Rachman’s Blog | FT.com
Mar 16th
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Mar 15th
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“A better definition comes from former Secretary of State Colin Powell who said:...”
– Notes on Leadership: Be Like Steve Jobs, … And Bill Campbell, And Andy Grove
Mar 15th
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“Michael Pettis from Beijing University argues that China’s reserves of...”
– Is China’s Politburo spoiling for a showdown with America? - Telegraph
Mar 15th
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WatchWatch
A primer on Repo 105, or how Lehman cooked the book. Plus Elliot Spitzer is back as a moralizer!
Mar 14th
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“Our sense is that the importance of the shock to public finances in advanced...”
– PIMCO - El-Erian Sovereign Debt Explosion 3-10-10
Mar 13th
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Sprott's Last Decade Retrospective: It’s Déjà... →
Two dates to remember: September 15th and October 7th, 2008
Mar 13th
1 note
2 tags
Mar 11th
5 tags
Mar 10th
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Mar 9th
4 tags
Mar 9th
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GATA Appeals to CFTC on Concentrated Gold Shorts
Gold bugs rejoice! GATA (Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee) appeals to CFTC to act against manipulative shorts: GATA has evidence that there are enormous physical short positions in the gold and silver markets that cannot be covered. Because of the decades-long interference with the gold market, we estimate that the free-market price of gold is multiples of the current price. Growing stress...
Mar 9th
6 tags
Mar 7th
1 note
5 tags
Private, Government, Foreign Financial Balance
The March 2010 Absolute Return Letter (pdf) picks up the national income accounting identity mentioned earlier: ( T - G ) + ( Y - T - C - I ) + ( M - X ) = 0 Where: T Taxes G Government Spending Y GDP C Private Consumption I Private Investments M Imports X Exports In other words, the sum of net inflows of money into the stock of capital of a country’s economy from the...
Mar 6th
1 note
5 tags
Mar 6th
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“A bankrupt party must use everything he has to make money and serve his...”
– German Politicians Want Greece to Sell Islands, Bild Reports - Bloomberg.com
Mar 5th
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Mar 5th
1 tag
Private Equity "Golden Era", Fast Forward 5 Years
Bloomberg News has an excellent round-up of recent figures of the private equity space: ‘Golden Era’ May Elude Private-Equity Investors as Prices Rise. Private equity firms (especially the “mega funds” of $5 billion and above) have now significant amounts of money to invest, as in half a trillion dollar. These funds come with a “due date” on them: most funds were raised...
Mar 4th
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Mar 3rd
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“The 2001 currency-swap deal arranged by Goldman trimmed Greece’s deficit...”
– Greek Budget-Busting Outweighed Effect of Swaps Such as Goldman’s - WSJ.com
Mar 3rd
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blog.pmarca.com: Angels vs. Venture Capitalists →
If you are interested in VC, this is a must-read.
Mar 3rd
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Mar 1st
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“Before we get into the implications, here are the “revelations”...”
– Step Aside Greece: How Gustavo Piga Exposed Europe’s Enron In 2001 - Focusing On Italy’s Libor MINUS 16.77% Swap; Was “Counterpart N” A Threat To Piga’s Life? | zero hedge
Mar 1st