Should the Fed Ease For the Sake of the USD?

Kudlow, and a few others have chimed in on how having the fed ease would be good for the economy and the strength of the dollar. Since I thought that this is an interesting thought experiment and why not do some research. The main crux of their argument is to look at the performance of the USD in...

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Google is a Value Play

WallStrip is touring the Google campus today. I just opened a position in GOOG a few days ago and have some more money slated to invest in it if the price drops from here or breaks up from here (and forces a MA crossover). Christian asks why I feel the need to invest in GOOG. The simple answer is...

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Book Review: The Black Swan

Rating: Two Thumbs Up, Required Reading, with a note of caution. This book review is hard for me to explain. On the one hand I want to say, go, go, go buy this book. On the other hand this book is not like Fooled By Randomness. Fooled By Randomness I feel was a book written because Taleb had some...

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Hedging - good for the soul.

I shorted down a burning ring of fire I went down down down And the flames went higher Black Thursday? Or will The Fed return and carpet bomb the market with money? I still maintain this has a few more months to run - watch the Shanghai Composite. We may have a head and shoulders pattern that...

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My Perspective On Algorithmic Trading

On CNBC Europe there was this guy from Saxobank who talked about how the models of today are illustrating that computers will yet again fail. He was saying how good traders will save the day. I replied as follows: > I am following the algorithmic trading talk and the Saxobank guy is dead wrong. The...

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We just broke through the March low without blinking...

...the next low (read: the next support level) is 1222 of June 13th, 2006. (!!!) We appear to have bounced back off that level, but that support level is not holding strongly. Don't be suprised if it falls over. Countrywide is all but gone. That is the last of the non-bank lenders. What is even...

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Why Do You Want To Catch a Falling Knife?

I find it amazing that with a 10% drop in the market reached it is now time to buy? Why? Because P/E ratios are good? Because cash flow is good? The economy is still good and strong right? And therefore there is no recession? It's a time to buy right? After all it seems all the professional traders...

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My Kind of Chick, Excuse me Woman

Today on CNBC American Squawk box I heard one of the most straight talking individuals I have listened to in a long while. The panel was Steve Forbes, and a woman called Janet Tavakoli, and they were talking about Quant funds and their models. Janet's comment regarding quant model's was, and I...

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Where is the Fault for this Real Estate Bubble?

Many, including myself are wondering who is responsible for this mess. Many point at Greenspan, but I think it is not so black and white. One problem that we have is that people don't understand the mathematics and dynamics of mortgages. I even get the feeling that mortgage lenders are pretty...

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What Does it Mean to Lack Liquidity?

The market is in turmoil and BNP is complaining about liquidity issues. I went back to look at an interview from Scholes (author of Black-Scholes pricing) for an opinion on the situation. > As a result, "decision time becomes elongated" and speculators hold back their capital just when their...

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