Monthly Archives: March 2007

Josh Rosner clears up my MBS questions

There’s not going to be a lot of new stuff on felixsalmon.com today, mainly because I have to do my taxes. But I did get a phone call this morning from mortgage expert Josh Rosner, and I learned quite a … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 3 Comments

Tanta on Morgenson on mortgages

Note to self: Make sure that Josh Rosner reads this, by the inestimably fabulous Tanta, before I talk to him about the mortgage situation. The poor chap deserves a right of reply, I think. But right now it’s Tanta 1-0 … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on Tanta on Morgenson on mortgages

Is the stock market a haven for speculators? And is that a good thing?

I wasn’t a big fan of Paul Krugman’s column on Friday, and his responses to readers today make him seem even more thin-skinned an arrogant than usual. (Dean Kloner: “What’s the point of the column? Anybody can concoct a scenario … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 1 Comment

Can private equity still get away with the leverage-and-flip play?

Jonathan Nelson of private equity shop Providence Equity had this to say at the Super Return conference in Frankfurt: The model in our industry today is far different than the headlines would lead you to believe — and it’s far … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 1 Comment

Top women artists

I’m a little late to this game, but I just found the New Economist blog entry on David Galenson’s paper on the subject of women artists. Galenson added up the number of times that women artists’ work appeared in textbooks … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog, Not economics | 7 Comments

How much of ResMae’s liabilities is Citadel taking on?

Even a spectacular subprime wipeout like ResMae has value: Citadel is buying it out of bankruptcy for $180 million. I don’t see any answer to the biggest question of all, though: Will Citadel still be forced to buy back loans … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 2 Comments

The US has an optimal mortgage market, Part 2

Back in January, I found a wonderful paper by the New York Fed’s James Vickery which showed that homebuyers are very, very sensitive to the details of the mortgages offered to them by banks. If fixed-rate mortgages rise by just … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on The US has an optimal mortgage market, Part 2

Where’s the safe haven these days?

Brad DeLong asks a question and then, well, doesn’t answer it: If an investor today did wish to insure against geopolitical catastrophe, how would he or she do so?… The principal risk I see today is that being borne by … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on Where’s the safe haven these days?

And to think that Thomas Aquinas had to make do with figs

I am an atheist, and I don’t have nightmares. Obviously I’ve been laying off the bananas. (Via)

Posted in Not economics | 1 Comment

If you run a housing company, of course you won’t want to own property

As chief executive of HSBC USA, Martin Glynn was at the forefront of the mortgage revolution: his company brought the joys of homeownership to thousands of individuals who might never have been able to get a mortgage in the past. … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 1 Comment

Why would anybody want to buy Palm?

Palm, the maker of the Treo, has long been rumored to be a takeover candidate. The latest rumblings started last Wednesday, with a story saying that Palm might be bought by Nokia, or by a private-equity shop. Weirdly, the stock … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on Why would anybody want to buy Palm?

Subprime math is hard

Roddy Boyd tries to do some subprime math in the New York Post today, but I don’t quite follow his thread: The subprime mortgage market collapse just might give private-equity titan Cerberus a headache for the forseeable future. As the … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 6 Comments

Giuliani Capital sold for undisclosed sum

Giuliani Capital Advisors, the boutique investment bank which Rudy Giuliani bought from Ernst & Young 27 months ago for $9.8 million, has now been sold, to Australia’s Macquarie. We knew this was going to happen; the big question was how … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on Giuliani Capital sold for undisclosed sum

What do you want to know about the mortgage market?

There’s a great deal I don’t understand about Gretchen Morgenson’s column on Sunday, about mortgages. If nobody understands the mortgage market, how is she so sure that it’s a train wreck, and that the decline in the mortgage securities index … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 3 Comments

When economists shave

John Quiggin is getting his razor out; the least you can do in response is get your wallet out. I will be most disappointed if the blogosphere doesn’t propel him easily into the Top 30.

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on When economists shave

The Greenmarket loses a couple of customers

A special guest post from Michelle Vaughan: It’s a beautiful pre-spring day in Manhattan and we’re having guests for dinner tonight. I dust off my bicycle and make my way over to the Green Market in Union Square. I needed … Continue reading

Posted in Not economics | 16 Comments

Some CIOs are motivated by more than money

Rob Cox, at Breaking Views, reckons that Warren Buffett (read his annual letter to shareholders here) is going to have difficulty finding someone to replace him as chief investment officer. Here’s Buffett: I intend to hire a younger man or … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 1 Comment

Why rising default rates might not be bad for subprime MBSs

Understanding mortgage-backed securities is hard. They don’t behave like normal fixed-income instruments: even now, with subprime defaults soaring, the big risk on MBSs is prepayment, not borrower default. And research on MBSs frequently includes passages like this: 6-wala FN 6s … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 1 Comment

Does the SEC regulate the CDS market?

Lars Toomre (via Alexander Campbell) thinks that yesterday’s SEC actions are just the first shoe dropping: Toomre Capital Markets strongly suspects that more forthcoming enforcement actions will be filed in connection with the use of credit-default swaps and the use … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 2 Comments

Just how big was that insider-trading scheme, anyway?

You can’t have missed the insider-dealing news at this point. Just look at the SEC go! Federal authorities said that they had exposed one of the most far-reaching insider trading schemes on Wall Street in decades, involving four investment banks … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on Just how big was that insider-trading scheme, anyway?

Protectionists take over the front page of the NYT

Dean Baker is upset at the New York Times today. Apparently it’s running an article which reports without comment Treasury Secretary Paulson’s assertion that free trade has been a cornerstone of U.S. prosperity and warning against protectionist barriers. Baker doesn’t … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 2 Comments

Equity bridges: Not as risky as they seem at first blush

There seems to be a lot of bellyaching from various pundits about equity bridges — one of the more startling innovations in the world of private-equity capital structures. Here’s Andrew Ross Sorkin explaining it, and putting the knife in at … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 1 Comment

Krugman channels the Book of Revelations

Krugman’s lost it today, with a bizarre column which would makes Michiko Kakutani on a bad day look sensible. Not only is it all predicated on a silly conceit (“if we’re going to have a crisis, here’s how”), but he … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 8 Comments

Housing prices: Up!

Just in case you thought that US housing prices were falling: er, not so much. Kash Mansori has the details, but suffice to say that the US House Price Index rose by 5.9% in 2006, and by 1.1% in Q4. … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 2 Comments

What does yesterday’s money buy today?

Never mind those inflation calculators you find all over the internet — Free Exchange and Brad DeLong both have posts up today asking pointed questions about what yesterday’s money can buy today. First Brad DeLong, resuscitating an old post of … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | Comments Off on What does yesterday’s money buy today?