August 3, 2012 - Quote of the Day
?It?s a bit like looking for gold in a minefield,? said Fidelity International?s China Special Situation Fund manager, Anthony Bolton, amid widespread accounting fraud in the country.
Entries by DougD
Technology Glitches Fell the Mad Hedge Fund Trader
Many apologies to the hundreds of listeners who were cut short during the broadcast of my biweekly strategy webinar on Wednesday, August 1. Despite the Herculean efforts of the staff, sometimes the technology doesn?t deliver as promised. This was one of those days. For a start, getting the GoToMeeting software to work on an iMac
The Fed Says No QE3
As I expected, the wildly optimistic expectations for further quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve at yesterday?s Open Market Committee meeting were not matched with substance. All we got was a continuation of existing modest programs and some minor tweaking of language. Bernanke only managed to say that, ?further stimulus will be provided as needed.?
August 2, 2012 - Quote of the Day
?The rule of thumb is to do your homework, do your analysis, and don?t give up prudent risk management for the sake of certain fads. Look for real valuations, and stay true to your time frames,? said Marc Chandler, the global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.
My Solution for Europe
Taking the express train from Paris to Frankfurt, I was playing around with the map function on my iPhone 4s. It was really cool watching the blue dot marking my location zip across the map at 200 miles per hour. When I zoomed in on my location, I realized that I recognized many of the
August 1, 2012 - Quote of the Day
?The consumer in the United States has basically disappeared. There are no jobs, no wage increases, and therefore no spending,? said Bill Gross of bond giant, PIMCO.
Mr. Mario?s Big Bluff
A couple of alleged Tweets, a few rumored phone calls, and what have we got? $2 trillion in new global stock market capitalization in hours. That was the bottom line after the purported communication between the staffs of Germany?s Angela Merkel, France?s Jean Francois Hollande, and ECB president Mario Draghi. But is the creation of
An Evening With Travel Guru Arthur Frommer
When I backpacked around Europe in 1968, I relied heavily on Arthur Frommer?s paperback guide, Europe on $5 a Day, which then boasted a cult like following among impoverished, but adventurous Americans. Over the following years he directed me down cobblestoned alleyways, dubious neighborhoods, and sometimes converted WWII air raid shelters, to find those incredible
July 31, 2012 - Quote of the Day
?We didn?t get here by accident. America is the product of the greatest public/private partnership in the history of the world,? said Tom Friedman, international affairs columnist at the New York Times.
Report From the Olympics
It was an unexpected call. A close friend who ran one of the world?s largest hedge funds said he had two tickets to the London Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night. Would I like to have them? I said he must be kidding. I knew from my own research that these tickets were the most