Monthly Archives: October 2007

Extra Credit, Thursday Edition

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Felix

Richard Prince is "tacky" and "trashy". What, you think that’s a bad thing? How to Cool the Globe: Sprinkle tiny particles in the upper atmosphere! We should turn the clocks forward, not back: John Kay likes his daylight. A Storied … Continue reading →

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How Egregious was Countrywide’s Option ARM Lending?

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

The WSJ asked UBS to prepare an analysis of bonds backed by Countrywide option ARMs, and has a big story about the results today. It’s not entirely clear what information was available to UBS that wasn’t available to the WSJ, … Continue reading →

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The Electability of Al Gore

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

According to the most recent trades on InTrade, the chance of Al Gore running for president is 11%, the chance of his receiving the Democratic nomination is 6.4%, and the chance of his winning the presidency is 5.7%. Which means … Continue reading →

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The Yuan that I Want

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

Jim Rogers has been bullish on China for years, and indeed now has a new book out entitled "A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World’s Greatest Market". So it’s hardly surprising that he sees the country’s currency rising. … Continue reading →

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Subprime Datapoint of the Day

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

Some subprime loans are selling for 3-6 cents on the dollar.
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China Approves of Cap-and-Trade

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

The strongest argument against a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions (or its cousin, the carbon tax) is that emissions wouldn’t actually fall; they’d just be exported to China. To some extent that’s already happening, but the trend of heavy industry … Continue reading →

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The End of the Merrill Myth

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

There is absolutely no silver lining to the $8.4 billion in writedowns that Merrill Lynch announced today. Merrill is being hit from all sides: sell-side analysts, on the conference call; journalists; ratings agencies; and, of course, the stock market. Dana … Continue reading →

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When US Brands go Global

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

The Breaking Views column in today’s WSJ comes up with a startling figure: Tommy Hilfiger (the brand, not the person) is now worth $2.5 billion – even as the value of its US franchise continues to steadily decline. UK private-equity … Continue reading →

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Econoblogs: The RSS Ranking

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

Chris Masse emails with a good point, apropos Tyler Cowen’s blogonomics talk: that if you’re going to measure blog popularity, there are many ways of doing so. Aaron Schiff uses Technorati rankings; Brian Gongol uses public traffic logs; Alexa uses … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Felix

Brazil’s Bovespa stock exchange could raise $3.67 billion in its IPO, on a valuation of as much as $9 billion. It costs $9.99 per minute to talk to a human at mortgage servicer HFC. The BIS’s Nout Wellink makes a … Continue reading →

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Blogonomics 301 With Tyler Cowen

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

Tyler Cowen may or may not be the greatest economist in the world, but he’s certainly the best economist in the world to be talking on the subject of the economics of blogs in general, and of academic – and … Continue reading →

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The Need for Conflict in Business Journalism

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

Jack Flack reveals an open secret in the journalism community: Business journalism sells best when it apes sports journalism, particularly in framing clear conflicts that elevate the mundane into something more compelling. That’s particularly true of business television. CNBC struggled … Continue reading →

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The Irony of Matt Ridley

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

So it turns out that the Matt Ridley who writes popular bestsellers on genomics is the same Matt Ridley who was chairman of Northern Rock until last Friday. He also was a columnist for the Londont Telegraph, where he used … Continue reading →

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Apple Datapoint of the Day

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

Apple’s market capitalization, @ $186.55/share: $162.23 billion. IBM’s market capitalization, @ $114.00/share: $157.32 billion. Yes, it actually happened: Apple is now worth more than IBM. Still hasn’t caught up to Google, though.

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When Lawyers Deadpan

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

I’m a fan of lawyers with a sense of humor. In the New Yorker this week, civil-rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith says that such a thing can even be a necessity: “If you take everything that the government does in … Continue reading →

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Rogue Brokers: Finra Asleep at the Wheel

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

Megan Barnett has the interesting tale of Karen McKinley, a rogue Merrill Lynch broker in Florida. McKinley had a habit of working to maximize her own commissions rather than investing her clients’ funds in suitable investments; indeed, even after one … Continue reading →

Posted in law, regulation | 1 Comment

Tales from Foreclosure World

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

The WSJ this morning fronts a story headlined "More Debtors Use Bankruptcy To Keep Homes"; the subhed is "Chapter 13 Filings Gain In Popularity Because They Halt Foreclosures". Empirically speaking, the thrust of the column seems a little bit dubious … Continue reading →

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The Case of the Missing Surowiecki Column

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

Memo to Jeff Bercovici: What’s with Jim Surowiecki’s column in this week’s New Yorker? It’s right there on the website – complete with no fewer than nineteen hyperlinks. (Someone give this guy a blog!) But it’s in the "online only" … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Felix

News No. 1 in the world with $67.8 bil: News Corp is now worth more than Time Warner. Some points about the Superfund: Alexander Campbell asks pertinent questions. Dumpster Divers Go Mainstream In Thrifty Germany: My favorite WSJ Page One … Continue reading →

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Apple: Great, in the US

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Felix

If the Mac brand is going to keep on growing at its present pace, it’s going to have to go global.
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It’s Not Easy Being Green

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Felix

Being a leader in green technology is now tantamount to subsidizing your competitors. Call it last-mover advantage.
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Why Newspapers’ Websites Should be Free

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Felix

Nick Carr makes a valiant attempt at defending TimesSelect, riffing off Tim Harford’s column on Saturday. The basic idea is that when online advertising is in its infancy, it makes sense to charge a subscription rate for website access. Eventually, … Continue reading →

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The Ingenuity of the Markets

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Felix

John Bird and John Fortune on structured credit. I’m in heaven. "It’s moved onto Wall Street and it’s extraordinary what happens then: somehow, this package of dodgy debts stops being a package of dodgy debts, and starts being what we … Continue reading →

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Factories as an Alternative to Aid

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Felix

The NYT on Saturday gave valuable op-ed space to hedge fund manager Justin Muzinich to roll out his big idea: cut direct US foreign aid, and use the money instead to give tax breaks to hedge funds and others who … Continue reading →

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Watching SIVs’ Assets Decline

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Felix

Sam Jones has a fascinating chart showing the evolution of SIVs’ net asset values over the past three months. The best SIVs are doing fine, no problem there at all. The worst are doing atrociously: "Axon Financial, managed by TPC-Axon … Continue reading →

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