November 28, 2011 - Quote of the Day
?Better to have stop and go, than no go at all,? said hedge fund legend, George Soros, about the choppy prospects for the US economy.
Entries by DougD
Time to Short the Garlic Eaters
The garlic eaters don't want to repay their debts, and the beer drinkers don't want to lend them any more money. That pretty much sums up the financial tensions that exist within Europe right now. The PIIGS countries of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece's, and Spain are lurching from one emergency financing to the next. European
My Personal Leading Economic Indicator
I just flew over one of my favorite leading economic indicators yesterday. Honda (HMC) and Nissan (NSANY) import millions of cars each year through their Benicia, California facilities, where they are loaded on to hundreds of rail cars for shipment to points inland as far as Chicago. Three years ago, when the US car market
The 12 Day Year
I have reported in the past on the value of the Friday-Monday effect, whereby the bulk of the year's performance can be had through buying the Friday close in the stock market and then selling the Monday close. Well, I have discovered a further distillation of this phenomenon. During 2010, the S&P 500 rose by
November 25, 2011 - Quote of the Day
?Everybody is a day trader now, and a long term hold is three hours,? said noted bank analyst, Dick Bove, of Rochdale Securities.
Surviving Thanksgiving
The Mad Hedge Fund Trader is taking a break for the next few days to take Turkey with the expanded family. A 28 pound bird made the ultimate sacrifice, and will be accompanied with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, potato salad, mince pie, and a fine Yamhill Chardonnay. I ate an entire pumpkin pie last night
IMF Euro Bail Out Attempt Flops
The International Monetary Fund announced a new facility for members to address a short term liquidity crisis. The measure is aimed at beleaguered Europeans girding themselves for a steady worsening of their sovereign debt crisis in the hope of ?breaking the chain of contagion.?? But the measure is more of a squirt gun than a
Film Review of ?Margin Call"
Now it?s time for some cultural edification. I first became aware of ?Margin Call? as a pre-production project two years ago when news leaked out that the principal actors, Kevin Stacey, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, and Jeremy Irons, were reading the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader to learn about the industry and get
November 23, 2011 - Quote of the Day
?Washington got the wrong message from the debt ceiling debate. They got the message that the downgrade didn?t matter very much when it came to the US Treasury?s ability to float debt. It?s the wrong message. We are watching a major economy like Italy having trouble getting financing from international capital markets. One day it
Sold Out! Last Chance to Sign Up for the November 25 Portland Strategy Luncheon
Come join me for lunch at the Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s Global Strategy Lunch, which I will be conducting in Portland, Oregon at 12:00 noon on Friday, November 25, 2011, the day after Thanksgiving. A three course lunch will be followed by a PowerPoint presentation and an extended question-and-answer period. I?ll be giving you my