Author Archives: Felix

Hedge Fund Datapoint of the Day

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Felix

The WSJ reports on Alan Howard: His firm is blossoming, soaring from $12.5 billion at the beginning of 2007 to become one of the largest hedge funds in the world. The article is illustrated with a hedcut of George Soros, … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Felix

The proviso on a carbon tax – determining the price of carbon – is a show stopper Credit markets beware: CPDOs on the cusp of forced deleveraging: I love it when Sam Jones gets his nerd on. China Mobile: 400,000 … Continue reading →

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Misleading Chart of the Day, CDS Edition

Posted on February 18, 2008 by Felix

This graphic comes from Gretchen Morgenson’s front-pager in the NYT yesterday. I’m not going to try to reproduce it here, because my column width isn’t big enough to really see what’s going on. But suffice to say that it shows … Continue reading →

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Manhattan Real Estate Datapoint of the Day

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Felix

Josh Barbanel reports: So far this year, 13 co-ops worth $20 million or more had closed or were in contract, compared with only 11 completed sales in that price range for all of last year. Note this is co-ops, not … Continue reading →

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Northern Rock: Nationalized

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Felix

Northern Rock will be nationalized, and the FT says that There Will Be Grumbling: The government believes nationalisation is now the best option, even though it is likely to spark a political storm, an angry reaction from some shareholders and … Continue reading →

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Zimbabwean Dollar Website of the Day

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Felix

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Market Movers has nabbed itself 11,000 valuable pixels on the Million Zimbabwean Dollar Homepage, for the bargain price of just $0.41, plus a $0.35 paypal fee. From the FAQ: 8. How long … Continue reading →

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John Adams: Encore!

Posted on February 17, 2008 by Felix

Last year, I extolled the virtues of listening to new-music pieces more than once. Yesterday, I went to Carnegie Hall to hear the new Doctor Atomic Symphony by John Adams, and it was wonderful; but it was also very dense … Continue reading →

Posted in Not economics | 5 Comments

Extra Credit, Weekend Edition

Posted on February 16, 2008 by Felix

Citigroup Leveraged Fund Falls Amid Bond Market’s Volatility: Falls by 52% in one quarter, to be precise. Who wants a recession: More people than you might think. McCain and Obama Skirmish on Financing: It’s possible we might yet have a … Continue reading →

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Peter Orszag, Optimist

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

I wasn’t too surprised to learn that Ben Bernanke is an optimist. But Peter Orszag too? The director of the CBO always seems pretty downbeat to me. Yet today, releasing an updated economic forecast, he says that "CBO’s projections do … Continue reading →

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The Microsoft-Yahoo Merger-Arb Plays

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

The New York Post says that Yahoo’s board is splitting into factions, with one group taking its fiduciary duties seriously, and the other, more emotional, group supporting CEO Jerry Yang’s attempts to rebuff the Microsoft takeover bid. It also reports … Continue reading →

Posted in stocks, technology | 1 Comment

The Magic of Pricing Conventions

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

A banker makes a $10 million loan to a client at an interest rate of 10%. He then turns around and securitizes the loan, selling it to bond investors at an interest rate of 10%. Does that sound like a … Continue reading →

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Don’t Bank on Loan Deals

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

Front-page stories in the WSJ and FT: two great tastes which go great together! First there’s David Enrich in the WSJ, talking about a Citigroup hedge fund named CSO Partners, which contracted to buy a bunch of loans and then … Continue reading →

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The Idiocy of Reporting Auction Hammer Prices

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

First the NYT, now Bloomberg – what is going on with art auction reporting? Bloomberg’s headline on the (RED) auction today is just plain wrong: "Hirst Cabinet Fetches $6.2 Million for Bono AIDS Sale". The story quotes lots of information … Continue reading →

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Subprime Lawsuits: The Lerach Connection

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

Remember those subprime class-action suits? Well now Navigant Consulting has put together another league table – not of the most-sued companies but rather of the law firms filing the most suits. Amir Efrati has the lowdown: Wannabe securities class-actions brought … Continue reading →

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Monolines: The Spitzer Debate

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

Eliot Spitzer, having fought and won his battle with investment banks when he was New York’s attorney general, has now set his sights on the monolines. There are two diametrically opposed ways of looking at what’s going on, which is … Continue reading →

Posted in insurance | 6 Comments

Damien Hirst Datapoint of the Day

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

At the (RED) auction last night, eight works by Damien Hirst were sold – if you include the one he gave to Banksy to deface. Between them, they sold for $20,955,000 – call it half of the $42,584,300 that the … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Friday Edition

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Felix

Privately Public: Equity Private on public investment banks. McCain takes aim: At Obama. In defence of the investment bankers: John Gapper doesn’t think much of regulating bankers’ pay. College a waste of time and money for kids Online Ad Spend … Continue reading →

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Blogonomics: The Techdirt Model for Monetizing Content

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

I managed to grab a few minutes at the Money:Tech conference to talk to Mike Masnick about his company, Techdirt, and specifically the Techdirt Insight Community. What he said intrigued and excited me: it seemed like a fantastic way for … Continue reading →

Posted in blogonomics | 1 Comment

How and Whether Cisco Helps Sub-Saharan Africa

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

One of the biggest sponsors of the World Economic Forum at Davos this year was Cisco. That’s entirely natural: Cisco is huge and global and powerful, which is all you need in Davos. And Cisco does its part to make … Continue reading →

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MBIA Fires Back at Ackman

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

As Congress holds hearings on bond insurers, it’s worth reading MBIA’s official response to Bill Ackman. There’s nothing in there about “the unscrupulous and dangerous market manipulation of short-sellers,” as Herb Greenberg feared. Rather, it’s a pretty sober analysis, which … Continue reading →

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Ben Bernanke, Optimist

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

I actually read Ben Bernanke’s testimony today all the way through to the end – this should get me a gold star from Barry Ritholtz, at the very least. The not-particularly-surprising news, of course, is that he’ll continue to cut … Continue reading →

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Yahoo and the Failed M&A Deals

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

Stephen Grocer has a great post about Yahoo’s M&A track record: the companies it did buy and shouldn’t have, as well as the companies it didn’t buy and should have. In the former camp: the $3 billion acquisition of GeoCities, … Continue reading →

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IKB: The Unnecessary Bailout

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

Why is the German government bailing out IKB? It’s small, it’s not systemically important (although it is politically important, which is probably the key here), and there’s all sorts of moral hazard involved in keeping this insolvent bank afloat. Willem … Continue reading →

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Auction-Rate Securities: Not Such a Big Deal

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

I’m not a big fan of the WSJ’s front-page story about trouble in the auction-rate securities market today. It’s long – over 2,000 words – which means that most readers won’t make it all the way past the jump to … Continue reading →

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$3.5 Billion Building Up for Sale

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Felix

The most expensive building in the world is up for sale, with a $3.5 billion price tag. Its owner, Harry Macklowe, has been served a default notice, which has forced him to put his greatest asset on the block. It’ll … Continue reading →

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