The Crash of 1987 And The Big Picture

One should not stand close to an image to see it properly. Case in point. . .

Hedging Against Oneself

According to this short Financial Times Alphaville article, Citibank's 1st quarter results had a boost from bets against itself. The article says that Citibank made money from CDS positions that increased in value when the market decided that its default risk increased. Here is another related article.

A Step Towards the Right Direction

In February, I wrote an article on eBay Inc warning about a potential weakness of the otherwise formidable company. Recent news about the company are very encouraging. eBay Inc is considering the sale of Skype, the business with very questionable synergies with the company's core business. This article has more.

Indices' PE Ratios

I have been mildly suspicious of index PE ratio computations. This feeling of distrust came about a few years ago after learning that a source that I follow do not include losses in its computation of earnings. Now, this and this have made me even more wary. (By the way, thanks to Dr. Greg Mankiw for the lead.)

Lessons On Shareholder Activism

Carl Icahn shares his thoughts on shareholder activism in this Times article.

Noteworthy Articles of the Day

- Running to US treasuries for safety? This article reiterates what Warren Buffett highlighted in his most recent letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. In two words - think again.
- Do banks have more to write-off? The table in this article suggests that the answer is yes.

The Inevitability of Bubbles

How predictable is human behavior? Read this and you'll see that the answer is "very".