Proof that Stocks Are “Bubble-icious” “The degree to which this market is dependent on continued Fed easing was demonstrated just last week when rumors of a Jon Hilsenrath article on the Fed’s exit strategy knocked the market down nearly 100 points in a matter of minutes Thursday afternoon. Hilsenrath is known — or at least...Read More
What’s Behind It? Can You Say, “Financial Arbitrage?” “After a period when cheap mortgages were too available, the pendulum has swung too far; a lack of finance is holding the economy back. The clearest evidence is the growing number of lower and middle-income families paying rents to the private-equity firms that own their homes at rates...Read More
Rationally Assessing an Irrational Event “The current situation is not supposed to happen, which makes it tricky for us to understand exactly when it will end.” –Ben Inker, GMO Quarterly Newsletter (Q1 2013) Investing guru and resident elder Jeremy Grantham’s latest quarterly newsletter is out, and the surprise — at least to me — is...Read More
To Open an Account or Not (That is the Question) My son’s Bar Mitzvah (Jewish confirmation, sort of) is rapidly approaching, which means that a slew of checks — many of them from out-of-state relatives — isn’t far behind. Opening a “kid” checking account for him certainly seems like the smart, responsible thing to do....Read More
Straw Horse? How About, Straw Herd?? “Long before Sanford Weill suggested last week that big banks should split up, Bank of America executives and directors considered the idea and then decided against it, said people close to the nation’s second-biggest bank by assets.” –“Bank Breakups: Not So Fast“; The Wall Street Journal (July 29, 2012)...Read More
Wall Street Allocating Capital . . . to Itself Once upon a time, Wall Street’s reason for being (“raison d’etre,” if you want a fancy term) was to efficiently allocate capital from suppliers of capital (aka “savers”) to those who could most productively use it — typically young, promising companies. At least, that’s how I...Read More
