Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper on Warren Buffett’s financial gaffe
Michael Kinsley once defined a political gaffe as the moment “when a politician tells the truth” and is embarrassed by it. By that standard, Warren Buffett’s deal to write $35bn (€27bn, £23bn) of put options on equity markets was a financial gaffe.
David Pilling on Nomura’s flood
The management of Japan’s biggest brokerage compares its rescue of 8,000 floundering Lehman bankers in Europe and Asia to the operation mounted by Noah on a previous occasion when global liquidity got out of hand.
Editorial Comment: China’s thick skin
The friend of your enemy is not necessarily your enemy. But China seems to think it is. Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, currently occupying the chair of the European Union, is due to meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, in Poland on December 6. In retaliation, the Chinese government has pulled out of a summit meeting in Europe with just days to go. It is an unwise and ill-considered step.
Analysis: Is Japan about to lose another decade?
At Sinano Sangyo, a small supplier of industrial plastics based in southern Tokyo, a sparkling metal worktop by the entrance provides a telltale sign. “That worktop was always completely covered with rust,” says Kunio Yanagisawa, chief executive.
Short view on shortening yields
Given the current climate, it comes as no surprise that US Treasury yields are at their lowest levels in decades and could well fall further.
Lex examines that miner earthquake
If the collapse of the BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto merger was all about debt (if you believe BHP) and antitrust issues (Rio), then why did mining stocks round the world fall as BHP’s chairman Don Argus read the deal’s last rites on Tuesday, and slip even further on Wednesday?
Obama’s team in graphics
Who’s on the new administration team.