Really Awful
Article :
November 2008
A Brazilian trader started the week by shooting himself in the open-outcry pit of Sao Paulo's commodities and futures exchange in an apparent suicide attempt, the exchange said. Strangely enough, it appears he did not succeed.
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Cojones Q&A: Munitions Man
Article :
November 2008
How Rich Dugger clears land mines the same way he trades: very carefully.
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Highlights Of Soros-Paulson-Falcone-Griffin-Simons Grill
Article :
November 2008
There’s nothing better than dragging the traders who reportedly make $1 billion a year to Capitol Hill and parading them around for the whole cash-poor world to see. (In medieval times, didn’t that used to be called getting locked up in the stocks?) In any case, if you missed out on any of the rotten tomatoes being duly thrown by members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (in the form of mostly idiotic questions) click here for the rundown of the hedgie showdown.
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We Can Work it Out
Posting :
Rich Blake
:
11/13/2008
While a cavalcade of billion-dollar hedge fund earners (George Soros, John Paulson, Ken Griffin) marched up to Capitol Hill Thursday to get a grilling from Henry Waxman's House Oversight Committee, there was a hearing simultaneously taking place on the Senate side.
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Specter Of Resume-Padding Makes Comeback
Article :
November 2008
With so many more people looking for jobs than those actually up for grabs, the labor market right now can be a truly harrowing place. Some choose to deal with it by redoubling their efforts. Others, for lack of a better term, ‘sex up’ their resumes. The risks of getting creative with your credentials.
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Another Day, Another ‘New’ New Phase Of Same Old TARP
Article :
November 2008
They’ve got another one! But this idea is soooo much better than the first one thousand and fifty-two already obscuring the cutting room floor. That proposal to conduct auctions to buy up bad loans and troubled assets? Pshaw! So last month. The plan now is to require firms seeking government money to raise private capital on their own to qualify for public assistance. That’ll learn ‘em. With only $60 billion left in its sieve-like pocket, here’s how Treasury will attempt to not spend all of its vestigial fund in one place (though, with AIG, AmEx and Detroit all jockeying for a piece of the action, that task will be none too easy).
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On Being Tarred, Feathered
Article :
November 2008
As red-letter events go, Europe’s biggest bank (HSBC) setting aside $4.3 billion in rainy-day money for bad U.S. loans and the biggest engine to the world’s growth (China) whipping out a $586 billion stimulus package designed to back ``fast and heavy-handed investment'' in housing and infrastructure and a ``relatively loose'' monetary policy are pretty major, we’d say. But we also posit that having five of the most renowned and wealthiest investment managers summoned for an old-fashioned roasting (reportedly unprecedented for the roughly $1.8 trillion hedge-fund industry) on Capitol Hill might also be impressive. Of course, we won’t know for sure, however, until Thursday.
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Go Here Now: Portorož, Slovenia
Posting :
Travel
:
11/07/2008
Land and sea meet in the "Port of Roses."
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Is Capitalism Alive in China?
Posting :
Mark Whistler
:
11/06/2008
Read on for a completely different perspective on how the global financial crisis is affecting China. You might be surprised.
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Full Disclosure
Article :
November/December 2008
These skeleton watches are the height of horological transparency.
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Israel’s Last ‘Stand’?
Article :
November 2008
The girlfriend of Sam Israel (the former CEO of collapsed hedge fund Bayou who faked his own suicide to get out of a 20-year prison sentence) had this to say about the unholy relationship that left her $500,000 in debt and with a criminal record. Is the following story hideous and reprehensible? Of course it is. But are you going to read it? Absolutely.
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Start Buying Canal Bonds!
Article :
November 2008
The Erie Canal, the waterway that established New York City as a top trading hub, is back up and running.
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Weekly Street Sentiment for November 3
Posting :
First Coverage
:
11/03/2008
Only two types of investors...the quick & the dead.
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This Week in Wall Street History: November 2 - 8
Posting :
This Week in Wall Street History
:
11/02/2008
While government offices and the banks closed to the public, the NYSE decided to keep the floor open starting in 1984. And the floors have stayed open since.
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Not-So-Very Light Jet
Article :
November/December 2008
The Embraer Phenom 100 is the best of the new breed of affordable jets -- because it actually exists.
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Southern Comfort
Article :
November/December 2008
This new Georgia course is so sublime, you'll want to live there. Which is good. Because you have to.
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Head Butler -- Books: The Wine Trials
Posting :
Jesse Kornbluth
:
10/31/2008
Robin Goldstein has no use for wine snobs. To prove it, he invented a restaurant -- a chic place named Osteria L'Intrepido, in the great restaurant city of Milan -- and entered it in Wine Spectator's annual competition.
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My Charity: Child’s Play
Article :
October 2008
Hedge Funds Care takes a long position in a decidedly undervalued commodity: abused and neglected kids.
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Distress Signals
Article :
November/December 2008
How dire is the situation facing the financial system and the larger economy? A roundtable of distressed-securities experts share their outlook.
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Survivor: Wall Street Edition
Article :
November/December 2008
What doesn't kill some securities firms only makes them stronger. Here's a closer look at which players COULD emerge from the great financial crisis of 2008 in better shape than before.
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In the Money
Article :
November/December 2008
Nauseating volatility, short-sale bans, all-out panic -- what a time
to be running an options exchange. Talking shop, and shocks,
with BOX vice chairman William Easley.
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Greenspeak
Article :
November/December 2008
With efforts to reduce CO2 emissions gaining momentum, Evolution's Andrew Ertel exhales some carbon-credit expertise.
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The Quiet Man
Article :
November/December 2008
As he handles orders on behalf of funds in need of a stealth execution, Bill Byrne's handiwork goes unnoticed -- just the way he likes it.
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Life Force
Article :
November/December 2008
Flouting financial calamity, Vishaal Bhuyan is helping to create
a new market tied to life-insurance policies.
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Gauging The Impossible
Article :
October 2008
By the impossible, we, of course, mean when this dog of a market might stage a turnaround. On the one hand, you can say that’s anyone’s guess. But on the other, to ignore the following forward-looking indicators would be folly. How the experts are reading the tea leaves.
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Timing the Market
Article :
November/December 2008
Traders' improbable role in the contentious saga of "spring forward, fall back."
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Munitions Man
Article :
November/December 2008
Rich Dugger clears land mines the same way he trades: very carefully.
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Go Here Now: Mexico
Posting :
Travel
:
10/28/2008
At play in the Land of the Fishermen.
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If You Can’t Hack It, Don’t Bother
Article :
October 2008
We don’t mind pointing this out to the little pikers just getting started, but to BARCLAYS? C’mon! The latest trading travail to get a monster bank’s knickers in a knot.
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Futures Rally: Welcome Respite Ahead?
Article :
October 2008
Never you mind that we featured a story only yesterday saying that overnight gyrations in the futures markets are lousy predictors of daytime stock activity. The point is, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are rallying – rallying! – on the back of similar jumps in Asia and Europe today. This is assumed to be due to rising expectations that a Federal Reserve rate cut is nigh. But is this to be taken seriously, or is it just another dead-cat bounce?
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Is Making Partner at Goldman a Big Deal Anymore?
Article :
October 2008
It used to be the most prized endgame on Wall Street: the
invitation into one of the most exclusive, talented partnerships in the world. But with derogatory nicknames popping up like "GS Bank" and "Buffett Capital," is it really worth it to drink all that Kool-Aid anymore?
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Stock Predictors Getting, Er...Rather Less Predictable
Article :
October 2008
It’s true that stock-index futures aren’t anything more than a bunch of traders’ amalgamated guesses at where the market is going. But lately, those guesses have been getting further and further off the mark. So, what’s the rumpus?
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The Trading Week: October 26 - 31
Posting :
All Things Forex
:
10/24/2008
The Fed's interest rate decision and the U.S. economic growth data will take the center stage in the week ahead.
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Yet Another Day Of Unmitigated Awfulness?
Article :
October 2008
S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures staged putrid declines of more than 6%, setting off their "limit down” triggers – a very scary development. Meanwhile, the sterling tumbled to its lowest level in 37 years against the dollar, as the yen shot to a 13-year high. The Federal Reserve revealed it has already booked a paper loss of $2.7 billion on the toxic assets of Bear Stearns, but that hasn't stopped Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson from setting out to buy more grubstakes in a mélange of regional banks. Noting the growing global alarm, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has decided to, nonetheless, not give a rat's arse and slash oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day. Slow curtain, the end. Read on for the lowdown of today's opening showdown.
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Credit Suisse’s ‘High Risk Propensity’
Article :
October 2008
Newsflash: if you were meddling in the securities of financial institutions, convertible bonds and any other risky proprietary trading strategies during the third quarter, your balance sheet might end up looking a little something like this.
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California
Posting :
Travel
:
10/22/2008
There is no wrong way to relax.
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Obama Nails Double-Digit Lead
Article :
October 2008
Has Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama finally reached a decisive tipping point? Take a look at the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll and judge for yourself.
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Now That We’ve Lost Our Virginity, What’s A Few More?
Article :
October 2008
Fed chief Ben Bernanke threw down the gauntlet and, like clockwork, all the lawmakers and officious officials hooting and hollering all the way to the floor vote on the last financial bailout simply fell in line like good little soldiers. Even President Bush’s press secretary allowed for his being "open to the idea," like he’s been sitting there waiting the whole time for someone to throw an apple at his head. Given that the alternative is more extreme financial pain for markets and consumers, it looks like they can’t roll out the red carpet fast enough. But how many more bailouts and securities auctions will it take?
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Markets Up, Cuomo on the Prowl, "Fear" Monetized
Article :
October 2008
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Weekly Street Sentiment for October 20
Posting :
First Coverage
:
10/20/2008
Sell-Side is Certain about their Uncertainty.
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This Week In Wall Street History October 19 - 25
Posting :
This Week in Wall Street History
:
10/19/2008
After the devastating and expensive Civil War, the newly re-United States of America steamrolled back to financial boom times. By the late 1860s, capital investments in railroads and infrastructure were soaring off the charts resulting in the NYSE taking the bull by its horns and opening up memberships for sale this week on October 23, 1868.
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Jess King: New York City's Sarah Brightman
Posting :
Mark Whistler
:
10/17/2008
One musician in New York City is on the verge of "superstar status"; catch her while you can...
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Head Butler -- Music: Bon Iver
Posting :
Jesse Kornbluth
:
10/17/2008
The creation story is already a legend.
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Gather Round...Time for the Daily 3 O'Clock Fight
Article :
October 2008
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Another Doozy of a Day
Article :
October 2008
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Manic Depressive Market
Posting :
Larry Levin
:
10/14/2008
The major stock indexes each gained more than 11% today after the Federal Reserve confirmed that central banks would offer banks unlimited amounts of money and Europe said it would guarantee bank loans. According to the central banks, there is no longer a need to fear anything. They have declared all loans are good. They are backstopping all loans everywhere with unlimited amounts of money. Well, all loans that matter anyhow -- not yours of course, unless you have a direct line to the Fed or your Senator. With this news and more, the depressive mood of last week turned manic today.
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Traders Point To US Election Results
Article :
October 2008
While U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has indeed nailed a 10 percentage-point lead over his Republican opponent in one national poll, futures traders are already looking well past that point to the endgame.
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Weekly Street Sentiment for October 13
Posting :
First Coverage
:
10/13/2008
Sell-side prepares buy-side for dead-cat bounce.
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Rockbottom: We Might Have Just Found It
Article :
October 2008
To describe today's market action as a wild roller coaster ride would be an understatement. Never before has the Dow seen 1,000 point swings like we did today, with an 800 point swing just in the last trading hour, before closing down a pedestrian, acceptable buck twenty.
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Happy Birthday
Posting :
Larry Levin
:
10/10/2008
One year ago today, the Dow closed at its all time high -- happy birthday. This birthday party, however, is not very pleasurable. The closing high one year ago was 14,164. Today's close was 8,579 -- a loss of 40%. Estimates of the losses for those who employ the Buy & Hold investment strategy are currently $7.5 Trillion. There will surely be an oversold rally at some point, but this won't be over for quite a while.
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