Stock Twits is a tool for searching stock tweets on twitter. It’s a nifty idea and a fine feat of programming (prefixing a ticker symbol with $ indexes the and adds a chart to the tweet.) Cool. Unfortunately, the tool is only as good as the tweets, and from what I’ve seen the tweets [...]
Cosby sweaters to raise money for charity
How ‘bout someone just donate the sweaters to good will and give the charity money. Who would want one of those 80s sweaters, Cosby or no Cosby?
Will someone please tell Kirk Kerkorian that he’s an old fart. The billionaire turned 91 last Friday and he’s going after Ford. At [...]
Greenspan, `Master of Garblements,’ Fares Poorly in Book on Fed –Blooomberg
None of these chairmen comes off well here. Greenspan, “the master of garblements,” fares the worst. His “skill in presenting imprecise, sometimes near-meaningless, conflicting, yet learned-sounding views won him over-the-top adulation for his insights and abilities,” Auerbach writes.
These evasions and deceptions allowed Greenspan to [...]
Word Problems for Future Hedge Fund Managers –McSweeney’s
1. Dick has $1 million. Jane has $1 million. If Dick and Jane both give their $1 million to T. Boone, how many millions will he claim he can turn it into?
2. On his way home from school, Kyle stops to buy a candy bar. It costs [...]
What the wonder twins would take the form of if they were sent to correct the subprime mortgage crisis –McSweeney’s
Take two of the three stacks of money you find in there. Leave one. That will confuse the insurance guy. He’s not going to know whether it was an inside job or not. If it’s [...]
Broadcom Co-Founder Faces Conspiracy and Drug Charges -NYT
Federal officials unsealed one indictment Thursday alleging co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III of chip maker Broadcom Corp. spiked the drinks of technology executives and customer representatives with ecstasy and maintained a warehouse for ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine.
A second indictment unsealed Thursday accuses him of conspiracy, securities fraud and [...]
Panos Bethanis Went $4.5 million in the Hole to Buy Back His Company –Inc.
He had founded the company five years earlier but had sold a majority stake to a pair of venture capital firms in 2005. Now, with the company struggling, Bethanis saw an opportunity to get his company back.
For Bethanis, then 31, regaining control [...]
Lord knows I’ve been stuck in this vortex many a time.
Related reading:
Sleeping and Trading –Daily Speculations
Briefly Speaking, from Victor Niederhoffer –Daily Speculations
There are many speculators who have an inclination to trade during night hours. Such behavior exposes one to the possibility of premature death, according to a study of Penev et al "chronic circadian [...]
By Jessica Hagy over at Indexed.
This makes a nice lead in for a realization I’ve had about the sub-prime fiasco and the housing markets, adding to what The New Yorker had to say in Home Economics back in March.
A few years ago a lot of economists and financial experts, including Alan Greenspan were warning [...]
Nasdaq is letting go of the 15 minute delay on stock quotes listed on its exchange. Google, Yahoo, WSJ, and CNBC will all reportedly be providing Nasdaq’s quotes in real time. So what, big deal, Freerealtime.com has been giving away quotes in real time for a decade. And anyone who really needs instantaneous quotations [...]
Yet Another Chance for Rich Dudes to Score Hot Chicks -Radar
"Fashion Meets Finance"—the latest match-making event from the minds who brought you the similarly themed "Rich Old Guys With Hot Young Chicks" and "Rich Old Women With Hot Young Dudes" speed dating events—another can’t miss attempt at carefully engineered social Darwinism.
The premise is [...]
Shake-Up at French Bank After Trading Scandal
Once expected to succeed Mr. Bouton at the helm of the bank, Mr. Mustier was in charge of all investment banking and trading during the period that a trader, Jérôme Kerviel, accumulated 50 billion euros, or $77.7 billion, in unauthorized bets, which cost Société Générale 4.9 billion euros to [...]
How One Smoker Quit -Freakonomics
A few weeks ago, we posted an item about an ad executive in Australia named James Hurman who auctioned off his smoking habit, agreeing to pay a steep fine (about $800) for every cigarette he smoked after the auction closed. He wound up selling the contract, he writes, “for NZ $300 [...]
