Features of the week

Welcome to this Friday's edition of, "Features of the week". Enjoy!

1. US consumer confidence falls to a 26-year low.

2. The SEC fines a trader for spreading false Blackstone deal rumors.

Funny how some individuals are targeted and fined for spreading false rumors, while media outlets seem to get a free pass (and a possible ratings-boost to boot)!

For added perspective, here are some past comments on moving the markets with rumors, and companies blaming short sellers for their demise, from Gary Kaltbaum (via BMB).

Plus, this post on the SEC targetting short-sellers in the Bear Stearns bust, and one blogger's take on bear raids.

3. The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen 50 percent from its peak.

4. Star subprime trader Josh Birnbaum has left Goldman Sachs to start a $1 billion hedge fund.

5. Superstar hedge fund trader Greg Coffey will leave GLG Partners, and forgo $250 million in compensation, to start his own fund.

6. UBS to start freight futures index.

7. Base metals are bucking the slowdown.

8. What would happen if commodity prices fell?

9. Could a Brazilian oil find end reliance on the Middle East?

10. The Bakken formation: how much will it help?

11. Emerging market oil use exceeds US as prices rise.

12. It's time for a rethink on recession-proof, says Michael Panzner.

13. Seeking knowledge? Physicist John Wheeler said, "In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it".

14. Trading tactics from Gerald M. Loeb, author of one of my favorite books, "The Battle for Investment Survival".

15. Eight hundred years of financial folly. A long term view of capital flows and debt default cycles.

16. The rise of the Gulf. Economist cover story.

17. US News on the return of Big Government. Did it ever go away?

18. Nomads at last. Wireless communications change the way people live and work.

Is there an interesting story out there that we might have missed? Your suggestions are always welcome. Drop us an email or share your thoughts in our comments section.

Thanks for reading Finance Trends Matter. Enjoy your weekend.

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety . My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes . Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes 2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4.

Slate profiles Victor Niederhoffer

Slate's recent profile of writer/speculator, Vic Niederhoffer has been getting some attention from traders and finance types in recent days. I thought we'd take a look at it here too, to offer up some possible educational value from Vic's experiences with trading and loss. Here's an excerpt from Slate's profile of Victor Niederhoffer : " I've enjoyed getting your e-mails. It sounds like you've thought a lot about being wrong. Well, the reason you contacted me, to call a spade a spade, is that I'm sort of infamous for having made a big, notorious, terrible error not once but twice in my market career. Let's talk about those errors. The first was your investment in the Thai baht, which pretty much wiped you out when the Thai stock market crashed in 1997. I made so many errors there it's pathetic. I made one of my favorite errors: "The mouse with one hole is quickly cornered." That is key. There are certain decisions you make in li

William O'Neil Interview: How to Buy Winning Stocks

Investor's B usiness Daily founder and veteran stock trader, William O'Neil share d his trading methods and insights on buying winning stocks in an in-depth IBD radio interview. Here are some highlights from William O'Neil's interview with IBD: William O'Neil's interest in the stock market began when he started working as a young adult. "I say many times that I didn't get that much out of college. I didn't have much interest in the stock market until I graduated from college. When I got married, I had to look out into the future and get more serious. The investment world had some appeal and that's when I started studying it. I became a stock broker after I got out of the Air Force." He moved to Los Angeles and started work in a stock broker's office with twenty other guys. When their phone leads from ads didn't pan out, O'Neil would take the leads and drive down to visit the prospective customers in person.

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