Skip to main content

Features of the week

Welcome to this Friday's edition of "Features of the week". Many interesting stories and article links ahead!

1. Wolfowitz has departed his role as the World Bank president, but the media focuses on the search for a new president.

Meanwhile, few bother to ask what the World Bank really does in the first place.

2. At James Simons' Renaissance Technologies hedge fund, only scientists need apply.

3. Bloomberg Markets Magazine on a growing force in the markets: artificial intelligence.

4. Another exchange merger: Nasdaq to buy Sweden's OMX for $3.7 billion.

5. Jim Rogers talks about investing in China, Japan, and commodities.

6. Another hedge fund manager goes public: FT Alphaville on the IPO of Platinum Asset Management and founder Kerr Neilson, the "Warren Buffett of Australia".

7. Reuters on Britian's "surveillance society".

8. Bloomberg discusses a row over Okinawan history during the second World War.

9. Archaeologists struggle to uncover the secrets and treasures of an Aztec emporer's tomb, as Mexico City bustles overhead.

10. Michael Steinhardt discusses the rise, and coming fall, of contemporary art prices.

11. Fintag and Dealbook on the biggest hedge funds. It turns out many are housed in the walls of "bulge-bracket" investment banks.

12. "Paul had a point". Reason Magazine asks, "Non-interventionists have been remarkably prescient. So why are they still shunted to the fringe?". (Ron Paul vs. Rudy Giuliani).

13. FT Alphaville discusses, "Sovereign wealth funds and the $2,500 billion question".

14. An interesting profile of hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner from New York Magazine that I missed the first time around. Thanks to Naked Shorts for the pointer.

15. Hans Sennholz says, "Money is Flooding the World Markets".

16. Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder and CEO of Skype, talks with FT.com's "View from the Top" about Skype's marriage with eBay, entrepreneurship, and new user-generated content. Parts 1 & 2.

Enjoy!

Popular posts from this blog

Nasdaq credit rating junked.

S&P cut Nasdaq's credit rating to junk status citing debt burdens and its questionable strategy to buy a controlling interest in the London Stock Exchange. Financial Times reported that the exchange's counterparty credit & bank loan rating were lowered fromm BBB- (lowest investment grade rating) to BB+. The change will increase Nasdaq's borrowing costs should it wish to pursue aquisition targets. For an earlier look at the exchange consolidation trend that brought about Nasdaq's push for a stake in the LSE, please see "Exchange fever" .

Clean Money - John Rubino: Book review

Clean Money by John Rubino 274 pages. Hoboken, New Jersey John Wiley & Sons. 2009. 1st Edition. The bouyant stock market environment of the past several years is gone, and the financial wreckage of 2008 is still sharp in our minds as a new year starts to unfold. Given the recent across-the-board-declines in global stock markets (and most asset classes) that have left many investors shell-shocked, you might wonder if there is any good reason to consider the merits of a hot new investment theme, such as clean energy. However, we shouldn't be too hasty to write off all future stock investments. After all, the market declines of 2008 may continue into 2009, but they may also leave interesting investment opportunities in their wake. Which brings us to the subject of this review. John Rubino, author and editor of GreenStockInvesting.com , recently released a new book on renewable energy and clean-tech investing entitled, Clean Money: Picking Winners in the Green Tech Boom . In Clean ...

Jesse Livermore: How to Trade in Stocks (1940 Ed. E-book)

If you've been around markets for any length of time, you've probably heard of 20th century supertrader, Jesse Livermore . Today we're highlighting his rare 1940 work, How to Trade in Stocks (ebook, pdf). But first, a brief overview of Livermore's life and trading career (bio from Jesse Livermore's Wikipedia entry). "During his lifetime, Livermore gained and lost several multi-million dollar fortunes. Most notably, he was worth $3 million and $100 million after the 1907 and 1929 market crashes, respectively. He subsequently lost both fortunes. Apart from his success as a securities speculator, Livermore left traders a working philosophy for trading securities that emphasizes increasing the size of one's position as it goes in the right direction and cutting losses quickly. Ironically, Livermore sometimes did not follow his rules strictly. He claimed that lack of adherence to his own rules was the main reason for his losses after making his 1907 and...