Skip to main content

Features of the week

What's driving events in this crazy world of ours this week? Join us as we follow the money trail in this Friday's, "Features of the week".

1. Let's expand domestic spying, and grant telecoms immunity.

2. Midwest floods ruin crops; higher food prices to come.

3. John Paulson is bearish on UK property, and sees $1.3 trillion in losses for financial companies in the credit crisis.

4. Lieberman makes risky bet in speculation ban bid.

See also: Tighter trading laws may be boon to foreign exchanges.

5. Wilbur Ross speaks to Bloomberg about MBIA and Ambac, and says they are unlikely to regain their AAA ratings.

6. Your tax bill: how McCain, Obama differ.

7. Troubled Waters: Barron's 2008 Midyear Roundtable.

8. What recession? Shoplifting to make ends meet.

9. The Confidence Man. NY Mag profiles hedge fund manager David Einhorn, he of short Lehman Brothers fame (Hat tip to The Kirk Report).

10. Death of America's suburbs is greatly exaggerated.

11. Timeline: Bill Gates at the helm of Microsoft.

Plus: Additional Gates-Microsoft timeline from BBC.

12. China announces fuel price increase; the price hike takes Chinese fuel prices to about $78.60 a barrel.

13. Charles Maxwell of Weeden & Co. says oil prices could go north of $200 based on supply and demand fundamentals (Bloomberg News Video).

14. Oilwatch Monthly - June 2008 (The Oil Drum).

15. North Dakota's new oil barrons: Bloomberg report on the Bakken formation.

16. Hidden fees in your 401(k). Bloomberg TV report.

17. The Road to Revulsion: James Montier on the life cycle of a bubble.

18. The 'secret' to happiness... is no secret (Financial Philosopher).

Thanks for reading Finance Trends Matter. Have a great weekend!

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...