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Author Archives: Felix
Retail Datapoints of the Day
Prime Fifth Avenue retail rents, per square foot, in 2000: $675 Prime Fifth Avenue retail rents, per square foot, in 2007: $1,500 Prime Fifth Avenue retail rents, per square foot, in 2008: $2,500 Square footage of the Saks Fifth Avenue … Continue reading
Posted in consumption, housing
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What’s Driving Fannie and Freddie
Fannie and Freddie are down again; the shares are so cheap at this point that even a relatively modest fluctuation of less than 80 cents in the Freddie share price will hit the headlines as a 20% move. The fact … Continue reading
Posted in housing
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Blogonomics: What CFAs Read
Professional investment advisors don’t spend much time reading blogs, according to an article by Susan B. Weiner CFA which was brought to my attention by Yves Smith: When the CFA Institute tried to find sources for this story, most people … Continue reading
Posted in blogonomics
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Lehman: Still Awaiting Necessary Capital
The latest bright idea emanating from the office of Dick Fuld would seem to be a highly complex transaction involving warrants and call options and what have you. Take away the jargon, however, and the proposed deal seems quite simple: … Continue reading
Posted in banking
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Wine-Price Datapoints of the Day
I just found Juliet Chung’s fascinating article on wine pricing at restaurants, which appeared in the WSJ on Friday. Here’s a couple of datapoints for you. A bottle of 2004 Opus One will cost you $195 at Houston’s in San … Continue reading
Posted in consumption
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Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition
Activist urges Natixis to halt rights issue: Einhorn moves to Europe. Letter here. Plummeting value of synthetic CDOs demand action: "Investors are easily sitting on unrecognised market value losses of several hundred billion dollars". Grade Inflation: "There is no evidence … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
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The Crazy Lehman Share Price
Lehman Brothers looks as though it’s going to sell its asset management arm, Neuberger Berman, for a sorely-needed $10 billion or so. That’s got to be good news for the stock, right? No: Lehman shares are down more than 10% … Continue reading
Read Dylan
Justin Wolfers, meet Tim Wheeler, the CEO of UK property group Brixton. Mr Wheeler said the opening lines of the American songwriter’s All Along the Watchtower “seem to capture the beleaguered mindset of the UK commercial real estate market”. For … Continue reading
Posted in housing
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Why Greenspan Won’t Shut Up
Welcome, Caroline Baum, to the please-Mr-Greenspan-shut-up society. There is something unseemly about Greenspan’s conduct. Former presidents don’t criticize U.S. foreign policy during times of war, Jimmy Carter notwithstanding. The same unspoken rule should apply to economic policy… So here’s my … Continue reading
Posted in fiscal and monetary policy
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The Destroyer of Swedish Capitalism
For a wonderful real-world example of Martin Wolf’s take on global capitalism, check out Niklas Magnusson’s profile of Swedish activist investor Christer Gardell. This being Sweden, Gardell isn’t only unpopular with unions and other leftists, he’s even unpopular with shareholders: … Continue reading
Posted in economics, hedge funds, investing
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Martin Wolf on Capitalism
Give Bill Gates, Mike Kinsley, and Conor Clark credit: if their Creative Capitalism project achieves nothing else, it has certainly brought into being one of the most interesting, diverse, and provocative group blogs on the internet. And Martin Wolf’s tour … Continue reading
Posted in economics
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When Savings Start to Rise
Paul Kedrosky quotes David Rosenberg today on the implications of a rising savings rate: The savings rate is going to be forced higher. This, again, is going to be very, very disinflationary. It means that fashions are going to change. … Continue reading
Posted in economics
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Gas Mileage: Overrated
I never thought I’d say this, but America has become too obsessed with gas mileage. Prius owners use their real-time mileage readout to try and get the absolute maximum number of miles out of every tank; politicians talk dreamily of … Continue reading
Posted in climate change, commodities
1 Comment
Extra Credit, Monday Afternoon Edition
Explaining the brokers Part I: Why are brokers’ balance sheets so huge? The root of all evil? The harmful effects of money. Non-existent fees and the ephemeral nature of trading profits: A glimpse at what dsquared does in his day … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
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How Does Barrons Move the Market?
Seeking Alpha (twice), Colin Barr, Stacy-Marie Ishmael, and many others have blamed today’s price action in Fannie and Freddie — they’re down about 20% apiece, albeit from a very low level — on an article which appeared over the weekend … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
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Another Reason to Ignore Earnings Estimates
Baruch thinks that sell-side analysts deliberately game the earnings-expectations system: Analysts with buy ratings on a stock will have lower earnings numbers going into quarters than their peers, so they don’t inadvertently raise the average of published sell side expectations, … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
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New York Real Estate Datapoint of the Day
This full-floor apartment on Park Avenue first hit the market in November 2005 with an asking price of $18.9 million, or $3,000 per square foot. Almost three years later, it’s still unsold. Maybe it’s a function of the $17,138 per … Continue reading
Posted in housing
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The Blitheness of the Art World
I’ve written about Sarah Thornton’s Seven Days in the Art World a couple of times, so I feel I ought to mention what I thought of the book as a whole. Your mileage might vary: by sheerest coincidence the book … Continue reading
Posted in art
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Hirst Announces the End of an Era
Are there too many Damien Hirst paintings? Some people are worried that there are, or at least that Hirst was putting the market in his own works in peril by making so many. Those people are relieved that he’s ceasing … Continue reading
Posted in art
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When Op-Ed Pages Turn Neutral
The Christian Science Monitor has a classic example of "Opinions on Shape of Earth Differ" syndrome. It runs a first-rate op-ed by Mark Lange on the invidious and predatory behavior of credit-card companies. It then, however, neutralizes Lange’s piece by … Continue reading
Posted in Media, personal finance
4 Comments
Web Features: Don’t be too Ambitious
The NYT has the news, this morning: BusinessWeek is adding a feature to its website at the end of September. This is clearly meant to be a big deal: it’s the product of "two years of quiet development," we’re told, … Continue reading
Posted in Media, technology
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London House Price Datapoint of the Day
House prices are finally falling in London: Asking prices in London fell 5.3% in August, according to the Rightmove house price survey – equivalent to a ߣ21,000 drop in a single month. Prices in some of the most sought-after suburbs … Continue reading
Posted in housing
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Annals of Deckchair Rearrangement, Citigroup Asia Edition
Tony Munroe of Reuters does his best today to report on the latest changes to the Citigroup Asia org chart, but it’s not an easy task — especially when the regional CEO, Ajay Banga, starts talking about bringing "the organizations … Continue reading
Posted in banking, leadership
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Borrower Behavior: The Big Unknown
Aline van Duyn tells an increasingly familiar story today: that while corporations have a very clear hierarchy of debt payments, with preferred stock, mezzanine debt, senior debt, senior secured debt, and all that, individuals do not — and they don’t … Continue reading
Posted in bonds and loans, housing
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Extra Credit, Monday Morning Edition
Hotel Occupancy Rate Rising, Data Show: "In May the average cost of a hotel room in New York climbed to $350 a night from $300 in May 2007." Dr. Doom: Nouriel Roubini gets the NYT Magazine treament. Finally, cities at … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
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