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Author Archives: Suresh
The shot across the bow
Wall Street Journal reports that GM is pulling its ads from Facebook complaining that the ads have not translated into revenue for GM. Buried in the story are a variety of other advertisers simply arguing the same point: we are … Continue reading
Double Jeopardy
I’ll take Derivative Bets for a billion Alex A few random thoughts on this one. The size of the loss indicates that some limit went horribly wrong somewhere Fixed income desks (should) never operate without limits. Never. In happier times … Continue reading
The trouble with models
A recent story in the WSJ talked about the pitfalls of investing in exotic derivatives tied to even more exotic underlying securities. The basic story is how an Exchange Traded Note (ETN) that would be expected to mimic the VIX, … Continue reading
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Insta-Insanity
News Item: Mobile application purchased for US$1 Billion. No, that is not a typo, it is a Billion with a B. The application has 30 million registered users. The company that owns the application has a dozen employees and no … Continue reading
Winning the Intertubes – the CNBC edition
One expects lunacy in the Intertubes. One just doesn’t expect it to get a prominent position at CNBC. This article took a prominent spot on CNBC’s headline page a few days ago. Here is the lead: Warning: This article may … Continue reading
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Blinder calls it on the bogus debt debate
In a long overdue op-ed piece in the WSJ (sorry, it is behind their pay wall), Dr Blinder calls the popular myths in the debt debate. First, he points out that the American Public is really wooly about exactly what … Continue reading
The Greek Tragedy
We are willing to bet that Donald Trump is smiling. Trump was the first to prove the maxim – if you owe the bank 100 dollars, the bank owns you. If you owe them a 100 million, you own the … Continue reading
Take our money… Please
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Treasury is considering issuing short term paper with negative yields. In a survey of its primary dealers, itfound that at least some of its dealers were willing. The story is behind the … Continue reading
Bond ‘God’ doubles down
Bill Gross who is widely regarded as the authority on bonds and bond markets is doing what every gambler with other people’s money does: when down, double your bets. After being burned by a poorly timed bearish bet on treasuries, … Continue reading
Posted in Portfolio Strategy
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Chutzpa
The wags have it that chutzpa is the kid who killed his parents and asked the judge for mercy because he was an orphan. Well, HP ( NYSE:HPQ) hasn’t killed anybody. Yet. But as the WSJ reports, they have hired … Continue reading