Discursive MonologueDiscursive MonologueReporting on the massive torrent of wealth from the United States to East Asia, the depreciation of the U.s. Dollar, and hedging strategies. Articles
My latest project: Magic Formula Investing and bean counting
2007-10-21 19:55:00 Regular readers, undoubtedly familiar with my bearish musings, know that I think asset prices frothy globally. It’s getting harder for me to justify buying ETFs, even in strong economies given that prices have moved so high. This is the time to be selective. most recently, I have bough agricultural commodities and, since I bought DBA ... More About: Formula , Magic , Project , Investing , Bean
Problems in PC land?the old rig is getting long in the tooth
2007-10-21 17:50:00 In April, I had the displeasure of turning on my workstation to find that the video card had fried. I didn’t have a backup computer and, given that the computer was nearing five years old, I canned it in favor of the iMac that I’m using right now. Some time in August, I started to ... More About: Life , Problems , Land , Long , The O
How to time the market - follow this queue card
2007-10-13 01:48:00 Someone sent me an email forward at work today and I thought it was cute enough to share with my readers. It is related to my previous post, U.S. Equities are as fickle as the money managers who move them. The market seems to go up on any news piece, regardless of its gravity. The ... More About: Card , Market , Time , Timeless , Queue
U.S. Equities are as fickle as the money managers who move them; headline w
2007-10-12 14:31:00 I usually check on my investments once every day. I don’t make any irrational selling decisions based on what I see; I’m just curious. Today was different. Today, I checked my positions and the Dow nearly every hour because I was laughing about how capriciously the market has been moving lately. It is almost as ... More About: Money , Move , Equities , Managers , Headline
Kirby Daley: Europe, Japan not attractive markets; U.S. recession likely on
2007-10-11 14:42:00 I recorded more market commentary by Kirby Daley (of Société Générale’s Fimat) on CNBC Asia’s Cash Flow last several nights ago and typed up the transcript. In this Q&A, Mr. Daley explained that he doesn’t find the Europe an markets or Japan to be particularly fertile investments (especially given the likely effect of the strong Euro ... More About: Markets , Recession , Attractive
Book Review: Liar?s Poker, the wacky world of Wall Street
2007-10-09 12:58:00 On Sunday, I had the pleasure of reading Liar’s Poker : Rising Through The Wreckage On Wall Street , a memoir by Michael Lewis. Liar’s Poker came out in 1989, a year after Lewis left his short, successful career at Wall Street titan, Salomon Brothers. I have been dying to read this book for a while, as ... More About: Books , World , Book Review
An Interesting Proposition: A-Share, H-Share arbitrage; not my cup of tea
2007-10-08 16:41:00 The Financial Times recently featured a column, by Arthur Kroeber, called Dubious H-share allure in which it argued that trying to play the price discrepancy between companies co-listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong is a poor plan (no pun intended). The flawed plan is based on several ideas: the opening of the stock exchange in ... More About: Interesting , Share , Arbitrage , Prop , Position
Funny Video Friday: Baby Sloth
2007-10-05 23:51:00 I’m ready for the weekend. The video that I have this week will have one split over laughter and saying, “Awwwwwwwwww.” This video features a baby sloth that…well, it pretty much acts like a sloth. The baby sloth features its climbing instinct, only to be superceded by the much stronger (and more sloth-like) instinct to ... More About: Video , Funny , Baby , Funny Video , Friday
Auto Insurance Overview
2007-10-05 23:48:00 Every State has minimum coverage requirements for auto insurance. When I took a legal environment class in college, my professor explained why carrying more than the minimum is prudent for people who have savings or other assets. If, God forbid, you are involved in a serious accident, any damages beyond the minimum coverage may be ... More About: Insurance , Sponsored , Auto Insurance , Auto , Overview
Life Update: I had a birthday yesterday
2007-10-05 01:20:00 I woke up yesterday and had a nagging feeling that something was different. I went to work and didn’t really feel like doing anything. I went through the grind and the work day finally came to a close. I returned home and an iCal alert popped up reminding me that I am one year closer ... More About: Life , Birthday , Update , Yesterday
Dude! Where?s my purchasing power? How Americans? largest costs continue to
2007-10-04 14:50:00 Americans enjoy a very high standard of living. Most Americans leave work for a comfortable home full of luxuries (by world standards) that are taken for granted; on top of this, Americans typically have enough money left over to buy gadgets and enjoy entertainment away from their homes. How long this will remain is anyone’s ... More About: Power , Dude , Americans , Largest , Costs
Kirby Daley - ?markets are showing that they?re ridiculous in their complac
2007-10-03 14:20:00 I have been listening to Kirby Dale y, strategist at Fimat, Société Générale, for about six months on CNBC Asia and have grown to respect his opinion a great deal. While he is not widely quoted, I weight his commentary as highly as I do any of the higher profile “bears” with wide exposure in the ... More About: Markets , Ridiculous
The Gory Details - Everything you (never) wanted to know about Discursive M
2007-10-02 14:44:00 Occasionally, I post my site metrics for visitors to view. What visitors do with these stats is their business. I think that my numbers are useful for people with similar sites or similar exposure (i.e., no exposure; Pagerank 0) to compare. I’m interested in seeing other bloggers’ statistics, so if you read this, think about ... More About: Wordpress , Details , Wanted , Tails , The Go
September Expenses - A return to normal
2007-10-01 14:31:00 Expenses for September amounted to $1116.32. This is compared with $1731.60 spent in August (which reflects the cost of moving including a security deposit and household items). Looking at individual items, Rent and Utilities decreased from $763.12 in August to 650.15 in September (again, August’s number reflects a security deposit offset slightly by me selling ... More About: Life , Return , Expenses , Normal
A Look at Trade Balances, Day 2 - The Americas, Africa, and Middle East
2007-09-19 12:38:00 Given that the trade deficit makes up the large majority of the United States current account deficit, I started reporting the trade balance with various countries yesterday. With the Federal Reserve cutting rates by 50 basis points today on recession fears, it is interesting to look at which countries are most exposed to a slowdown ... More About: Middle East , Africa , Americas , East , Trade
Prepare for the expected tomorrow?the Federal Reserve will cut the Federal
2007-09-17 12:31:00 The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release its statement and minutes tomorrow (Tuesday, September 18) announcing, most importantly, its decision for its Federal Funds rate target. There has been a lot of speculation about the Fed’s next decision, but I think that it has finally settled into a consensus. The market is pricing in ... More About: Federal Reserve , Tomorrow , Reserve , Morrow , Pare
Funny Video Friday: Ms. South Carolina showing off her intellect (Miss Teen
2007-08-31 15:55:00 For my last post of the week, I have a funny video of the Miss Teen USA 2007 competition. You really have to see this, as Miss South Carolina completely switched gears and gave what I think was probably the worst answer possible to the question of some Americans’ inability to locate the United States ... More About: Video , Funny , Intellect , Funny Video
Benjamin Pedley discusses U.S. economy, monetary policy, global equities, a
2007-08-31 15:44:00 I recorded a discussion on CNBC Asia with Ben Pedley of LGT Bank in Liechtenstein on Tuesday (28 August) and have been meaning to post the transcript this week. Ben Pedley is always a gold mine of prudent economic commentary and I always like to hear what he has to say. Throughout the morning, Mr. ... More About: Economy , Monetary Policy , Global , Policy , Equities
Jim Cramer: Watch TV, Get Poor (Part II)
2007-08-30 16:29:00 Earlier this year, I had fun writing a piece called “Jim Cramer : Watch TV, Get Poor .” In it, I pointed to a Cramer tracking web site that found Cramer’s stock picking equal to be a coin flip. The big problem with Cramer’s investing strategy is that it relies on the ‘greater fool’ theory–i.e. buy high, ... More About: Investing , Part
Warren Buffett: Marking to myth; corporate balance sheets are showing the s
2007-08-29 12:33:00 Enron. Global Crossing. Worldcom. When the going is good, no one complains. Boom years are times when everyone seems to want corporations to commit fraud and release apocryphal reports to shareholders as long as their wealth is increasing. When the boom ends, it’s time to release the Guillotine on those corporate jackals who defrauded the ... More About: Warren Buffett , Warren , Buffett , Corporate , Balance
Andy Xie says that it?s ?Time to end central bank bailouts of markets?
2007-08-28 12:30:00 I recently wrote a column about the Federal Reserve bailout that started on Friday, August 10. Today, I want to comment on the selective justice of the Federal Reserve, where there are two classes of citizens: Wall Street and plebeian. Andy Xie wrote a great article in the Financial Time s on August 14th called “It’s ... More About: Markets , Bank , Central
Agriculture Commodities are a great investment prospect; be a contrarian, c
2007-08-27 12:39:00 It’s no secret that I am bearish on equities at current levels and have been since I started this blog in April. There are bubbles stretching across many asset classes. An unhealthy amount of froth remains in a favorite asset of mine–gold. I have been highlighting structural problems with the United States and the global ... More About: Investment , Commodities , Great , Agriculture , Investing
Pay Attention. Mr. Market?s valuation methods are like a politician?s mouth
2007-08-23 12:36:00 I have been tagged by Stealthy of Stealth Wealth and Wooly Woman of Clawing our way to financial health to answer the question, “If you could give one piece of advice, tip, or story related to money, what would you share?” In the past, I wrote a post called 10 Clichés to live by, which ... More About: Market , Mouth , Timeless , Politician , Methods
United States Net International Investment Position on a home-plate slide t
2007-08-22 12:28:00 The United States Net International Investment Position (NIIP) has been deteriorating since 1986, when the United States switched from net creditor of the world to net debtor to the world. In Who owns America? How is foreign ownership of U.S. Treasuries and other securities trending?, I wrote about how foreigners–particularly communist China (whom Americans revile, ... More About: Home
Maximizing Gas Mileage: A great way to save money, minimize your impact on
2007-08-21 12:25:00 I tend to get a lot of criticism from my friends about the way I drive. It’s not that I am discourteous or a bad driver; it’s that I drive too slowly. When a traffic light turns green, I accelerate at my own pace instead of stomping the throttle. I coast if I see a ... More About: Life , Money , Save Money , Great , Save
The ?Bernanke Put? and the Federal Reserve bail-out in progress; official F
2007-08-20 12:26:00 On Friday, 10 August 2007, things were starting to look bad. The media was talking about a liquidity crunch, hedge funds were starting to fail, bankruptcies were beginning to boom, and the whole credit bubble was trying to purge. Then the Federal Reserve and others opened their floodgates to flood more liquidity into the system. ... More About: Progress , Official , The Fed , Bernanke
Benchmark rate targets of central banks around the world
2007-08-17 00:55:00 I have been meaning to write about this for a while now. The Federal Reserve has left the overnight rates at 5.25 percent for over a year now while all of the other central banks have been raising overnight call rates. I just wanted to post a few graphs to give readers an idea of ... More About: Benchmark , World , Banks , Around the world , The World
Jeremy Grantham and Marc Faber: Get out of Emerging markets and other risk,
2007-08-16 00:48:00 I read an article on Yahoo! Finance at the end of July called “Grantham Sees Huge Opportunity in ‘Anti-Risk ’” and have been meaning to comment on it. The topic of the Article was the quarterly letter written by Jeremy Grantham for his Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo (GMO) investment firm. There isn’t a whole lot new ... More About: Markets , Investing , Marc
ETrade launches new global trading platform
2007-08-14 21:25:00 My guess is that the few Americans trading foreign equities are doing so in one of the following ways: 1. getting ripped off by a full service broker, 2. getting raped by the market makers on over-the-counter (OTC) / pink sheets, or 3. buying Canadian equities directly with PennTrade (comissions eroding profit). This spring, it ... More About: Trading , Investing , Global , Platform , Etrade
Moving mostly complete - back to the grind
More articles from this author:2007-08-14 21:24:00 I’m mostly finished moving into my new place. I just had my cable Internet connection established an hour ago and I’m home from work today playing. I ended up spending a lot of money buying things for my apartment and I have a whole list of things I still need to buy. I’m going to ... More About: Life , Moving , Back , Complete , Ving 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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