Monthly Archives: November 2007

Citi: Looking Weak

Posted on November 5, 2007 by Felix

Never mind the Rubin news; that was all but a given. And the Bischoff news is not that much of a big deal either: the chap is the classic safe pair of hands who will be competent enough at managing … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, defenestrations, stocks | Comments Off on Citi: Looking Weak

Paying Readers: The Results

Posted on November 4, 2007 by Felix

The experiment is over, and I have paid five of my readers for reading this blog; my total outlay came to $5.12. The average (mean) bid was $380,952,457.64. The lowest bid was one Zimbabwean cent; the highest was $8 billion. … Continue reading →

Posted in blogonomics | Comments Off on Paying Readers: The Results

Extra Credit, Saturday Edition

Posted on November 3, 2007 by Felix

Paulson Funds Cut Bets Against Subprime Mortgages Media Maneuvers: Meta scoops: "The traditional definition of a scoop is that you got something first. The new definition is that you were the first in the neighborhood to yak about it. The … Continue reading →

Posted in remainders | Comments Off on Extra Credit, Saturday Edition

Art and Architecture at Auction

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

I’ve been guest-blogging over at Figure Painting today: I have an entry up defending auction houses, and another about auctioning houses. Amazingly, I managed to avoid talking about mechanism design in either of them.

Posted in architecture, art | Comments Off on Art and Architecture at Auction

Chuck Prince Deathwatch: Keep an Eye on Medina-Mora

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

The WSJ is reporting that Citigroup is holding an emergency board meeting this weekend, and that Chuck Prince’s ouster might be on the agenda: It wasn’t clear precisely what the meeting would address, but the subject of further writedowns could … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, defenestrations | Comments Off on Chuck Prince Deathwatch: Keep an Eye on Medina-Mora

GDP in Technicolor

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

Greg Mankw gets an email from the White House, which says, quite rightly, that GDP figures are "no fun unless you have a picture". I think it’s very pretty:

Posted in economics | Comments Off on GDP in Technicolor

Why Wall Street CEOs Get Paid So Much

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

Robert Reich thinks that Wall Street CEOs get paid more than their Main Street counterparts because they’re liars: There’s no reason to believe Wall Street executives have been smarter than executives in the real, non-financial economy. They’ve been paid more … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, pay | Comments Off on Why Wall Street CEOs Get Paid So Much

ABX, RIP

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

Required reading from Alea today on the subject of the notorious ABX subprime indices. We’ve been here before, many times, but no one ever seems to learn: the ABX indices do not measure bond prices. They do not give an … Continue reading →

Posted in derivatives, housing | Comments Off on ABX, RIP

Bloomberg Pushes a Carbon Tax

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

Mike Bloomberg today has a very important speech advocating a carbon tax; he explicitly prefers it to a cap-and-trade approach. I’m very glad that Bloomberg and other civic leaders are pushing hard on this, even as I disagree with him … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change | Comments Off on Bloomberg Pushes a Carbon Tax

How Mark Zuckerberg is Like Howard Dean

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

Facebook saw its valuation skyrocket back in May, when it announced it was opening up its platform to third-party developers. Except… the Facebook platform isn’t really open, as Marc Andreessen explained shortly after its launch. Now, Andreessen’s Ning and Rupert … Continue reading →

Posted in technology | Comments Off on How Mark Zuckerberg is Like Howard Dean

TV vs Blogs, Jargon Edition

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

The lack of interactivity on television seems to be haunting Bloomberg. Paul Kedrosky is watching TV: Bloomberg TV is apparently watching Fox Business News. The same way that Fox is making a point of trying to force guests and host … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Comments Off on TV vs Blogs, Jargon Edition

Adventures in Alternative Investments, Medallion Edition

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

“This is one of the best investments — better than Merrill Lynch, which is going down the drain,” said a driver, Mahmoud Sadakah, 42. “This is a guaranteed investment, because it will never go down.” The market in NYC taxi … Continue reading →

Posted in cities | Comments Off on Adventures in Alternative Investments, Medallion Edition

Investment Banks: Much Room to Fall Further

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

Floyd Norris has a chart today which puts the recent share-price drops at Merrill, Citi, Bear and the like in context. Yes, they’re down from their highs, but the broker-dealers in general have massively outperformed the rest of the stock … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, stocks | Comments Off on Investment Banks: Much Room to Fall Further

Merrill: The Latest Victim of a WSJ Attack

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

There’s definitely a sensationalist edge to the WSJ these days. It’s banging the Jimmy Cayne drum for the second day running, with a story misleadingly headlined "CEO of Crisis-Hit Bear Denies He Used Marijuana": for one thing, the Bear Stearns … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, Media | Comments Off on Merrill: The Latest Victim of a WSJ Attack

Second-Guessing the Fed, Already

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

The lead article in the print version of the WSJ this morning is headlined "Fresh Credit Worries Grip Markets". Naturally, it leads with the Fed angle: The angst in the financial markets stood in contrast to the views Federal Reserve … Continue reading →

Posted in fiscal and monetary policy | Comments Off on Second-Guessing the Fed, Already

Extra Credit, Friday Edition

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Felix

$75 Billion Fund Is Seen as Stopgap: The best explanation yet of what The Entity can do, and what it can’t. Another VaR Horror Story: "In Q3, UBS experienced 16 (s-i-x-t-e-e-n) days were losses overshooted daily VaR at the 99% … Continue reading →

Posted in remainders | Comments Off on Extra Credit, Friday Edition

Blogonomics: The Upside of Transparency

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

You won’t be surprised to hear that I think it pays for companies to encourage their employees to blog, and to be as open as possible. But don’t take my word for it. Instead, take the word of Rohit Aggarwal, … Continue reading →

Posted in blogonomics | Comments Off on Blogonomics: The Upside of Transparency

Jimmy Cayne Declares Victory Over WSJ

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

Cayne, on CNBC, via Dealbreaker: "It’s unbelievable. The phones are ringing off the hook, and everyone wants to play golf with me now." I’m glad it seems to have worked out this way. There are good reasons for a CEO … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, defenestrations | Comments Off on Jimmy Cayne Declares Victory Over WSJ

A Question for the Pro-Carbon-Tax Crowd

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

The CBO’s testimony on cap-and-trade is out. Greg Mankiw likes it, because the CBO supports including given-away emissions permits in the national accounts. I don’t like the testimony, becaues the CBO supports the concept of a "safety valve", which defeats … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change | Comments Off on A Question for the Pro-Carbon-Tax Crowd

Blogonomics: When Blogs Become Books

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

Scott Adams, the multimillionaire creator of the Dilbert comic strip, doesn’t like doing anything which doesn’t make him money. This conflicted with his blogging, the income from which was very small. Fortunately, he was famous enough that a publisher offered … Continue reading →

Posted in blogonomics, Media | Comments Off on Blogonomics: When Blogs Become Books

Price Restraint

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

One-liner of the day comes (natch) from Tim Price: To be fair to Stan O’Neal, when he promised in December that Merrill Lynch’s $1.3 billion acquisition of subprime mortgage lender First Franklin would provide “revenue velocity”, he didn’t explicitly state … Continue reading →

Posted in foreign exchange | Comments Off on Price Restraint

Markets: Still Inexplicable

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

You may or may not be aware that stocks are down quite a bit this morning, and, as ever, no one really has the foggiest notion why. David Gaffen, in a market round-up headlined "What Is Going On Around Here?", … Continue reading →

Posted in stocks | Comments Off on Markets: Still Inexplicable

Merrill’s Board: Asleep at the Wheel

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

With Stan O’Neal out the door, whither the board which supported all of his decisions? Peter Eavis has a good point today: Merrill Lynch’s board is arguably just as culpable for the firm’s atrocious results as the erstwhile CEO was. … Continue reading →

Posted in banking | Comments Off on Merrill’s Board: Asleep at the Wheel

Chrysler Follows the Strip-and-Flip Playbook

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

The Private Equity Council has what might seem to be a very tough job: persuading lawmakers that private equity principals shouldn’t pay income tax on their income. In reality, however, the job is easier than that – all they need … Continue reading →

Posted in private equity | Comments Off on Chrysler Follows the Strip-and-Flip Playbook

Beware Fund Managers Claiming Trading Prowess

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Felix

Mark McQueen of Wellington Financial is patting himself on the back for staying long Goldman Sachs during the dark days of this summer. "Goldman was the trade of the year," he tells us, in a prime example of the bias … Continue reading →

Posted in stocks | Comments Off on Beware Fund Managers Claiming Trading Prowess