One of the most fascinating things I learned when I first joined the equity trading desk at Morgan Stanley during the early 1980s was how to parallel trade. A customer order would come in to buy a million shares of General Motors (GM), and what did the in-house proprietary trading book do immediately? It loaded
There is no doubt that the “underground” economy is growing. No, I’m not talking about violent crime, drug dealing, or prostitution. Those are all largely driven by demographics, which right now are at a low ebb. I’m referring to the portion of the economy that the government can’t see and therefore is not counted in
"This is an epic bond bubble that we may have just seen the end of, not only here, but in Europe too," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakly Financial Group.
When asked about the urban legend that the vaults at Fort Knox are empty, and that the Fed has no gold, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke responded, "I've been to the basement of the New York Fed. The gold is there. I've seen it."
"Everybody talks about the Volatility Index (VIX), but the new fear gauge is the 10-year Treasury bond," said Art Cashin of UBS Financial Services.
"A fool learns from experience. A wise man learns from the experience of others," said Otto von Bismarck, the first Chancellor of Modern Germany.
I can’t tell you how many times I have been woken up in the middle of the night by an investor who was sleepless over a position that was going the wrong way. The Dow Average cratered by 1,200 points, Gold was down $50, the Euro was spiking two cents, and oil was making one
I never cease to be impressed with the readers of this newsletter. I was reminded of this once again in Salt Lake City, Utah a few weeks ago. Readers seem to fall into three categories. 1) Entrepreneurs whose businesses become so successful that they are throwing off plenty of excess cash to invest. This led
“Lower yields, for longer, and lingering. I don’t think we’re going to get to an end for some period of time. The money that has been pumped into the system is going to keep equities high,” said Mark Grant, managing director of Hilltop Securities.
“Fair value doesn’t mean you have to go down. It just means you have to be cautious,” said hedge fund legend David Tepper of Appaloosa Management.