Monthly Archives: April 2008

Extra Credit, Monday Edition

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Felix

A Pro-Foreclosure Bill: The problems with the Senate’s housing bill. The euro’s rivalry of the dollar does not depend on tipping: Jeff Frankel on why the Fed should be worried. Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A … Continue reading →

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Why Microsoft Will Buy Yahoo, A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words Department

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Felix

(Via Jack Flack; photo by Jason Lee/Reuters/Landov)

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Eyeball Datapoint of the Day

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Felix

Did you know that there was a $45 billion eyecare company called Alcon? I had no idea, until I saw that a controlling stake in it was being sold by one big Swiss company to another big Swiss company. On … Continue reading →

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Why JP Morgan Asked for a Fed Exemption

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Felix

If JP Morgan Chase was so confident that it will "remain well capitalized" in the wake of the Bear Stearns acquisition, why did it go to the extraordinary length of asking the Fed to exempt it (or at least $400 … Continue reading →

Posted in banking | 1 Comment

Blogonomics: Breaking News

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Felix

I’m glad that Jeff Bercovici has fisked the NYT’s silly article on the hazards of blogging, because it means I don’t have to. Instead, I can look past the idiotic central thesis to one of the pieces of supporting evidence: … Continue reading →

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The Hedge Fund Atop a Modeling Agency

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Felix

According to a study by Stanford psychologist Brian Knutson, When young men were shown erotic pictures, they were more likely to make a larger financial gamble than if they were shown a picture of something scary, such as a snake, … Continue reading →

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A Masterpiece from Murakami

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Felix

I went to the Takashi Murakami show at the Brooklyn Museum last night, it’s well worth seeing. For me, the highlight is the painting above, 727-727, which unfortunately just doesn’t work very well in reproduction. In real life, it’s enormous … Continue reading →

Posted in Not economics | 14 Comments

Extra Credit, Weekend Edition

Posted on April 5, 2008 by Felix

The Most Liberal, Conservative, and Independents Sites in America, for Real Change We Can Believe In: Good and bad currency design. The Pressure is Building in Iceland Countrywide Wants To Sell You a House: Many of Countrywide’s new mortgages are … Continue reading →

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Blogonomics: Valleywag Pay Slashed

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

Jordan Golson can’t be happy: Nick Denton has cut the amount of money he gets per thousand pageviews to $6.50 from $9.75. That’s a 33% pay cut, on a per-pageview basis. What about on an absolute basis? Well, the pageview … Continue reading →

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Jeff Koons Datapoint of the Day

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

The most expensive sculpture sold by a living at auction was Jeff Koons’s Hanging Heart, which sold for $23.6 million last year. It was also the most expensive artwork sold by a living artist at auction. The most expensive sculpture … Continue reading →

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Walking Away Without a Foreclosure

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

Remember youwalkaway.com? The idea there is that you stop making your mortgage payments but you can live in your house for 8 months or more before finally being evicted. Well now Barry Ritholtz has found a couple of articles, in … Continue reading →

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Bear Stearns: Why the SEC isn’t to Blame

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

I’m not a big fan of Floyd Norris’s column today, in which he essentially blames regulators in general, and the SEC in particular, for "letting leverage get so far out of hand" that Bear Stearns collapsed. We all know that … Continue reading →

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Why Did JP Morgan Need the Fed’s Guarantee?

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

I got a very good question in my inbox last night: If JP Morgan did cherry pick and dump the riskiest Bear assets on the Fed, then there’s no mistaking the significance of the Fed $29 billion guarantee. If, as … Continue reading →

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It’s Not the Fault of Hedge Fund Managers That They Make So Much Money

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

Andrew Clavell gets to the point on the subject of hedge-fund managers: I don’t begrudge the General Partners their loot one iota. What the academics fail to understand (choose to ignore?) is that the General Partners’ business model is "to … Continue reading →

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Adventures With Bear Stearns Stock

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

Aren’t SEC filings fun? According to this one, On March 24, 2008, JPMorgan Chase acquired 11,500,000 shares of Common Stock in the open market. The aggregate purchase price of $140,724,350 was paid out of working capital. That works out at … Continue reading →

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Which CEO to Blame for Citi’s Woes?

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

When former Citi CEOs start sniping at each other in the press, you know things can’t be good. Today’s story in the FT is quite astonishing, for the quotes it gets from both John Reed and Sandy Weill: “The specific … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Friday Edition

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Felix

Counterparty of last resort? Yes, but: Steve Waldman on the Bear rescue. Bush, Vote Buying and the 2004 Elections: Zubin finds another important paper. A Stormy Decade for Citi Since Travelers Merger Apfel hat Logistikproblem! (probably): "T-Mobile cut the price … Continue reading →

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Ben Stein Watch, Expelled Edition

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

I went to a screening of Ben Stein’s new movie this evening. My favorite bit, unsurprisingly, was when the film quoted Pamela Winnick thusly: If you give any credence at all to Intelligent Design, you are just finished as a … Continue reading →

Posted in ben stein watch | 2 Comments

Are Investment Banks Really Trying to Fix the Auction-Rate Market?

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

The WSJ reports on the market in auction-rate securities today: Last week, UBS said it was marking down an undisclosed amount of the value of auction-rate securities held by its customers. Other banks, including Merrill, aren’t marking down their values. … Continue reading →

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Sovereign Wealth Funds: Still Big

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

Quite impressive, really, the effect that an unpublished research paper by an unknown analyst can have. After the WSJ’s Bob Davis got his hands on a leaked paper about sovereign wealth funds from the Milken Institute’s Christopher Balding, I expressed … Continue reading →

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Silly Idea of the Day: Opening Foreign Brokerage Accounts

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

Abnormal Returns rarely criticises the stories it features in its invaluable daily linkfest. But today’s an exception: Color us skeptical that individual investors should be opening brokerage accounts around the world. (WSJ.com) Boy are they right to be skeptical. Armed … Continue reading →

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Why Silicon Valley Need Not Worry About Increased Regulation

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

Chris Nolan is worried about the unintended consequences of investment banks being regulated: Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson was right when he noted on Monday that the reforms he or anyone else envisions will take years to enact. But, … Continue reading →

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How the Housing Bill Could Help New York City

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

A significant beneficiary of the housing bill being voted on by the Senate today could end up being New York City – and other areas with relatively low property taxes. A part of the bill is a flat $1,000 property-tax … Continue reading →

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Geithner Explains the Bear Stearns Rescue

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

Tim Geithner has shed some small amount of light today on exactly what the assets are that the Fed is financing as part of JP Morgan’s acquisition of Bear Stearns. He doesn’t give a detailed breakdown: since BlackRock is in … Continue reading →

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Why Sovereign Wealth Funds Should Invest in Africa

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Felix

I’m a fan of World Bank president Robert Zoellick’s idea yesterday that sovereign wealth funds should invest 1% of their assets in Africa. For one thing, as Zoellick says, this kind of investment makes sense on a purely financial level. … Continue reading →

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