Greater and Lesser Fools Grizzled investors will tell you that if you feel euphoric after a trade, it wasn’t a good one. You should feel awful and be second-guessing yourself. That’s the sign of a great trade.” –Andy Kessler, “A Stock-Trading Dupe is Born Every Minute”; The Wall Street Journal (2/21/2021). Admittedly, three weeks does seem...Read More
Ground-scraping interest rates turn savers into speculators and quarantined millennials into day traders. They facilitate overborrowing, suppress market signals, misdirect investment dollars, and promote the dubious business of turning well-financed public companies into heavily indebted private ones.” –James Grant, “Powell Has Become the Fed’s Dr. Feelgood”; The Wall Street Journal 6/28/2020. Except for Jim Grant’s...Read More
Corporate Lines of Credit: ATM’s for Business [Note to Readers: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.] To understand the stress on the financial system now, start with millions of people...Read More
Quantitative Easing for Stocks [Note to Readers: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.] With the Dow in free fall, investors are looking to the cavalry (the Fed) to once again...Read More
R.I.P., “Tall Paul” [Editor’s Note: The post below originally ran more than a decade ago, in the aftermath of the 2008 Crash (Oct. 20, 2009 to be exact). My sentiments about former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who died yesterday at age 92, are exactly the same today.] I don’t have many heroes, political or...Read More
“Rising Treasury Yields Quiet Investors’ Concerns” –WSJ Headline (11/14/19). Stock swooned last Summer, sort of, when the dive in interest rates — combined with uncertainty over trade wars, Brexit, and whatever else was in the air — convinced people that something nasty might be just over the horizon. Fast forward a couple months. Interest rates...Read More
