Author Archives: Felix

Blogonomics: Impersonating Journalists

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Felix

I hope that Dean Rotbart isn’t reading Techcrunch, he’d have conniptions after reading this story, put up by Erick Schonfeld yesterday: Here’s the latest Yahoo rumor that we’re chasing: The Yahoo board of directors met earlier today and authorized chairman … Continue reading →

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Turning Around Legg Mason

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Felix

In the world of finance, asset management is the boring-and-predictable bit. M&A revenues come and go, traders can make or lose billions, and it’s the asset managers who provide the steady earnings in good times and in bad. Unless they’re … Continue reading →

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Why Inflation is Lower Than You Think

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Felix

In one of the smartest pieces of linkbait I’ve seen in a very long time, David Leonhardt today not only defends the CPI, but even says it’s overstating inflation: When the new inflation numbers come out next week, they will … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Tuesday Bonus Edition

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

TAF: Below Discount Rate Mannered Results: How have Eddie Lampert’s non-Sears investments done over the past year? How the Housing Bust Is Boosting Newspapers: ‘Foreclosure notices are filling in where condo sales and auto deals once held sway. "There are … Continue reading →

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Fannie Mae’s Weird Rally

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

I’ve seen a lot of financial institutions see their stock soar on the day they release atrocious quarterly results, and in fact I had them in mind this morning when I kicked off a blog entry with the words "Fannie … Continue reading →

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Clinton vs the Economists

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

From the Strange Bedfellows department: Mark Thoma and Greg Mankiw on one side, versus Paul Krugman and Tyler Cowen on the other. The issue, in a nutshell: does it matter if politicians ignore economists? Thoma and Mankiw say yes, if … Continue reading →

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The Wheat-Exports March on Washington

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

You want an example of the kind of gem that SAR manages to pick up on? How about this, 500 words into an otherwise seen-it-all-before article about rising food prices in the Toronto Star: The U.S. baking industry’s trade association, … Continue reading →

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Some Assembly Required

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

When Some Assembly Required first appeared on my radar screen a couple of weeks ago, I assumed that I was just late to the game and everybody knew about it. The wonderful daily linkfest would have a title like "SAR … Continue reading →

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The Fake Takeover Bidder Returns

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

Paul Murphy wonders whether Lawrence Niren might be back to his old tricks, announcing monster takeover bids under an assumed name so that he can flip the stock for a quick profit. This time the name in question is "Michael … Continue reading →

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Eddie Lampert Gets a Taste of His Own Medicine

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

Eddie Lampert is one of the most legendary activist investors of all time: just thinking about what he did at Auto Zone makes some investors’ hearts flutter to this day. But nowadays he’s less of an activist investor and more … Continue reading →

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Fannie Mae’s Earnings: Awful

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

Fannie Mae’s stock is certain to tank today, and not necessarily for the obvious reason. Yes, its quarterly loss of $2.5 billion was much larger than expected. Yes, total shareholder equity evaporated at an even larger pace: it was was … Continue reading →

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Why Sotheby’s Borrowers Aren’t Speculators

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

Floyd Norris, meet Nouriel Roubini. Both of you are worried about consumer credit in non-housing parts of the economy: Nouriel is concerned about auto loans, while Floyd is looking at art loans, and specifically the $835 million that Sotheby’s lent … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

What are corporate bonds worth in a recession? Possibly substantially more than they’re trading at now. Translating Corporate Speak: Wynn [Unforeseen Upside Edition #2]: Steve Wynn shows how stock buybacks should be done. The official word on whether capital gains … Continue reading →

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How to Monetize Free Wi-Fi

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

Susan Stellin reports today on the way in which hotels, airports and the like are increasingly rolling out free wi-fi in addition to their paid-for offerings. She explains: Travelers want to log on everywhere at no charge, while hotels, airports … Continue reading →

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Vikram Pandit, COO of Citigroup

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

David Enrich has gotten the first interview with Vikram Pandit since Citigroup announced that "substantially all" of the investor’s in Pandit’s Old Lane hedge fund had deserted it. The bad news is that either he didn’t ask about Old Lane, … Continue reading →

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How Long Until the Housing Market Recovers?

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Felix

Cyril Moulle-Berteaux says "the housing market is bottoming right now": During the 1990s and early 2000s, it took 19% of average monthly income to service a conforming mortgage on the average home purchased. By 2005 and 2006, it was absorbing … Continue reading →

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S&P Stops Rating Bonds Which Aren’t Being Issued

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

I missed this on Thursday: Standard & Poor’s will stop rating new bonds composed of U.S. second mortgages, saying it’s too hard to assess the debt while the housing slump continues… The unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. said today that it … Continue reading →

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Can Cities Transcend National Politics?

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

On Thursday, I posted a blog entry about why local government was unrepresentative, uncreative, and dominated by national parties whose national policies are largely irrelevant on a local level. The same day (I was in la-la land and oblivious of … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Monday Edition

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

Pricing power: signal versus noise Greenspan Goes for "Pale Recession" Googlewhack: "WTF is a "pale recession"? It sounds like a Clint Eastwood flick crossed with a Nabokov novel." Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Listen to Economists: ‘When asked this morning by ABC … Continue reading →

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Is Bank of America Rethinking Countrywide’s Value?

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

At some point, whenever somebody is trying to value a financial institution, a term like "tangible equity" or "book value" will start being thrown around. They’re different ways of playing the assets-minus-liabilities game, but that’s where the problems start: if … Continue reading →

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Is Illiquidity Just Another Word for Uncertainty?

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

If Steve Waldman could only dumb his prose down a bit, he’d be perfect for Slate’s new business site: he’s great for compellingly contrarian takes on the news. Today, he takes a shot at liquidity, saying that it’s not necessarily … Continue reading →

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Why Negative Equity in Car Loans Doesn’t Matter

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

Nouriel Roubini is now worried about negative equity in auto loans; I have to say this doesn’t bother me in the slightest. For one thing, auto loans are personal loans, they’re not non-recourse mortgages, which means you can’t jingle-mail your … Continue reading →

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Small Farmers Can’t Feed the Planet

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

Mark Thoma and Alex Tabarrok and Paul Kedrosky all feature a tour de force mini-essay from Paul Collier, who left it as a comment on Martin Wolf’s blog. I’ve been a big fan of Collier for a while, and I … Continue reading →

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Why Yahoo Shouldn’t Buy Back Its Own Stock

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Felix

Bill Miller is kicking himself this morning. The second-largest shareholder in Yahoo, he wanted $35 to sell out to Microsoft, and so he held on to his shares rather than hand them over to arbitrageurs at $29 or so. But … Continue reading →

Posted in stocks, technology | 6 Comments

Vikram Pandit’s Amazing Disappearing Hedge Fund

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Felix

Eric Dash reports that investors in Vikram Pandit’s Old Lane funds redeemed "substantially all" of their funds when they were given the opportunity in late March. Old Lane, which had $4.5 billion in funds under management last year, is now … Continue reading →

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