Posts from Tuesday Jun 5 2012

The Closer

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Jun 05 2012 22:47 | Comment |

ROUND-UP

Today’s markets round-up from the FT: “Global equity markets rebounded on rising hopes for fresh stimulus measures to promote growth, as G7 officials discussed the eurozone debt crisis during an emergency conference call. But risk sentiment remained cautious, ensuring only modest gains for US and European equities and commodities. The dollar advanced against most major currencies, while the euro resumed declines after Spain’s budget minister warned that the country was effectively shut out of capital markets.” (Financial Times) Read more

American opinion of Wall Street

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Jun 05 2012 21:34 | Comment |

A chart from Pew’s big new Trends in American Values: 1987-2012 report (page 64):

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The latest out of Europe, and an ECB preview

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Jun 05 2012 20:42 | Comment |

More grim details via Reuters, emphasis ours:

All of the euro zone’s major economies are now in various states of decline, according to business surveys that heaped more pressure on Europe’s leaders to stop the region becoming the center of a new global crisis. … Read more

Michael Lewis and the luck speech

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Jun 05 2012 19:31 | Comment |

It’s probably inevitable (for such a prolific writer) that Michael Lewis sometimes lapses into stereotyping and simplistic description in the service of telling a good yarn.

And it’s long bothered this blogger, and not a few others, more than it really should: the tradeoff between nuance and storytelling vigour is often a fact of life, and frequently difficult to measure. Read more

Well, it’s one idea…

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Jun 05 2012 18:20 | Comment |

Via Barry — click through for more:

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Arms races and the real encumbrance problem

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

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| Jun 05 2012 18:11 | Comment |

Among the “financial arms races” that Andy Haldane described in his April paper was the race for safety by financial institutions.

Since the start of the US crisis of 2007, the race for safety has replaced one of the other two races that Haldane discussed: the race for returns, a catchy way to describe individual firms trying to maximise profits while setting the stage for the collective market failure that followed. (The other race, for speed, continues.) Read more