Steve Schwarzmans Take on the Subprime Mess

Mahalanobis — 2008-05-09T10:53:00Z

Trying to buy a mortgage bank in the midst of the subprime crisis was the equivalent of being a noodle salesman in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb went off. Not a lot of noodles left, or even a person, and thats what happened to us on this deal.

Story.

White Noise : George Soros

Mahalanobis — 2008-05-08T07:54:00Z

Three weeks ago (AMZN):

Currently (Bloomberg.com):
soro02

Random Facts

Mahalanobis — 2008-05-07T14:20:00Z

In 2006, an iPod that cost about $200 would have cost $1B in 1976 and would have been very large. [Source]

Extreme Events : Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz

Mahalanobis — 2008-05-04T20:29:00Z

Saddest thing I read today (Schumpeter):

"[Bortkiewicz] was not a good lecturer, and his lectures, which he elaborated with a minute and conscientious attention to details all his own, were...

The Mystery of Monogamy

Mahalanobis — 2008-05-03T16:56:00Z

This paper* explains why modern societies are less polygynous than less-developed societies:

Men in less-developed economies prefer quantity over quality [=skill] in wives...

Cudgel Over the Quants

Mahalanobis — 2008-05-02T12:59:00Z

Portfolio.com: Hedge funds are dragging defectors into ugly courtroom battles over trade secrets.

Eric Falkenstein isn't your typical 42-year-old hedge fund manager. Instead of trading stocks all day or courting new investors, he spends his time updating his blog, researching equity strategies, and talking to his lawyer. He's a hedge fund portfolio manager who is legally restrained from managing...

Cuba: Aftermath: Legionella

Mahalanobis — 2008-03-14T21:57:00Z

My father has been hospitalized since shortly after our return from Cuba. He was in artificial deep sleep for more than a week but now he's already doing fine (Today: Tell mom I really need my laptop). The funny thing is that the hospital told us that everybody who was in Cuba should be tested for Legionella (they demanded the flight number...

Another Lesson in Econometrics

Mahalanobis — 2008-03-12T21:12:00Z

At the moment, I'm reading Hedge funds: Quantitative Insights by François-Serge Lhabitant (required reading for CAIA Level 1). Seems this guy read A First Lesson in Econometrics*...

Back from the Dead

Eric Falkenstein — 2008-03-11T02:28:00Z

Well, I'm still involved in expensive litigation, which I'm told will end in finite time (that 'this too shall pass' is both true and totally unhelpful). In the meantime I have created a website where I post up information on corporate default probabilities, and also equity benchmarks.

DefProb...

Airbus A320 Nearly Crashed during Crosswind

Mahalanobis — 2008-03-03T21:16:00Z

We had some very windy weather in Europe over the weekend. In Germany, an Airbus A320 nearly crashed during crosswind approach at Hamburg Airport.
"Das ging beinahe in die Hose."

Bernstein on the Evolution of Risk

Mahalanobis — 2008-03-03T20:37:00Z

This past Wednesday on Bloomberg Radio Tom Keene spoke for an hour with Author Peter L. Bernstein about his book "Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk," the evolution of risk and the importance of consequence. Mr. Bernstein also discussed the role of behavioral economics in our current subprime crisis, Fed policy under Chairman Greenspan, and modern finance theories.

Hedge fund to sue SEC over advertising ban

Mahalanobis — 2008-03-03T08:01:00Z

FT: Phil Goldstein, the hedge fund manager who derailed the Securities and Exchange Commissions attempt to require hedge fund registration, will sue the regulator to lift its ban on hedge fund marketing and advertising.

The long-standing ban on funds soliciting money from the public has been interpreted to mean a hedge fund should release only very limited information about itself. This interpretation has come under pressure as hedge funds have grown...

HFs' Fire Sales Send Muni-Bond Yields to Historic High Levels

Mahalanobis — 2008-03-02T15:53:00Z

WSJ: Months of turmoil in the municipal-bond market, long a placid haven for individual investors, reached a boiling point Friday -- as hedge funds were forced to unwind complicated bets and in the process dump billions of dollars of the securities.As a result of that...

Leverage Providers

Mahalanobis — 2008-02-29T08:41:00Z

Peloton Partners LLP, the London- based hedge fund manager being forced to liquidate a $1.8 billion asset-backed fund, said it's a victim of Wall Street's reduced lending.

``Credit providers have been severely tightening terms without regard to the creditworthiness or track record of individual firms, which has compounded our difficulties and made it impossible to meet margin calls,'' Peloton co-founders Ron Beller and Geoff Grant said in a letter yesterday...

Vulture Funds

Mahalanobis — 2008-02-28T16:52:00Z

Bloomerg: Vulture Fund Deals With Delinquent Homeowners Lost by Subprime

the alpha and omega : excerpts

Steve Schwarzmans Take on the Subprime Mess