An excellent primer for the curious.
James Fallow deserves kudos for this fascinating article on economic relations between China and the United States.
February 2008 Archive
« The $1.4 Trillion Question
February 4th, 2008« SEC Probes Stock Sales by SocGen Insider
February 4th, 2008Latest twist, or coincidence?
Via Dow Jones Newswire:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating sales of stock by Societe Generale board member and American investor Robert A. Day and two foundations associated with him, people familiar with the matter say. The U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y., has opened a criminal probe related to the bank, according to one person familiar with the matter, although its precise focus wasn’t immediately clear.
Day, investment manager with U.S.-based Trust Co. of the West, and the foundations sold about $140 million of Societe Generale stock approximately two weeks before the bank notified its board about the billions of trading losses.
Either way, no surprise.
Online gambling house begs for money back
February 2nd, 2008I thought this was a joke.
Online gambing house Betfair had a glitch in their systems. Players found out, and took advantage of it. Now Betfair is “ordering” players to send back the supposedly ill-gotten gains.
I can’t help but sense some irony in this.
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Tags: BetFair, online poker |
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« Google’s Earnings: Has Something Changed?
February 2nd, 2008Barron’s is asking the question, and gives us a summary of analysts’ opinions on the matter. There are some nuggets within - can you discern them from the pyrite?
How is social network advertising performing?
February 1st, 2008Quick answers and not-so-quick speculation.
Barron’s: Google points out it isn’t doing so hot.
Alley Insider: Alas, the social network side of things is not up to par.
ZDNet: Not good, and Google is disappointed with the MySpace deal.
Techdirt: Cutting to the chase - it sucks.
And…Facebook isn’t looking like the grand saviour either.
Meanwhile…some folks are optimistic - Lookery is chasing the same kind of deals with social networks, while the GOOG says they’ve seen no impact from the economic downturn.
I’m on the fence. Click fraud is up, and the internet advertising king’s growth is slowing significantly - if they can’t make it all work, who’s going to? Microsoft may be buying Yahoo!, but Yahoo! has only ancillary properties representing social networking success while Microsoft seems to have significantly overpaid for what they have on the plate already.
I’m betting an upstart will hit the street with something truly unique in the way of monetization, and it will charge up this space the way the GOOG did with search. The incumbents should be looking over their shoulder frequently, as there are no barriers to exiting their networks.
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Tags: advertising, Facebook, Google, MySpace, social networks |
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Fed to start raising rates soon!
February 1st, 2008Headlines are sometimes veiled in sarcasm.
In the world according to this Bloomberg columnist, the Fed might start raising rates again really soon.
Sure they will.
In other news sure to make you feel warm and fuzzy, pharma company Bristol-Myers Squibb discloses they’re taking a hit from investments in sub-prime mortgages. And bond insurance big boy MBIA says it’s keeping its triple-A rating. S&P has other ideas.
UPDATE: I noticed the same Bloomberg columnist was recently tooting the horn of banking stocks. Of course, anything can look profitable when the SEC endorses your smoke and mirrors approach to loss disclosure.
Preliminary conclusion…the fed won’t be raising rates by summer’s end, and I wouldn’t own a banking stock if someone paid me to hold it Japan-style.
UPDATE 2: At least the analysts are getting a clue about those bank stocks.
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Tags: Federal Reserve, interest rates |
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