Tue May 29, 2012 11:11pm ESTComments Off on ACK, ACK: Markets Tumble on 15 Hour Old News, Regarding Tepid Chinese Stimulus
This is bullshit. Someone is trying to fuck with people here. I’d ignore the “crisis” reaction in Asian trade tonight. The Heng Seng went “ex-dividend”, which is exaggerating the move lower.
“The Chinese government’s intention is very clear: it will not roll out another massive stimulus plan to seek high economic growth,” Xinhua said in the seventh paragraph of a Chinese- language article on economic policy. “The current efforts for stabilizing growth will not repeat the old way of three years ago.”
Premier Wen Jiabao’s call last week to focus more on boosting economic growth has spurred speculation the nation will step up measures to boost expansion that’s set to slow for a sixth straight quarter. Economists at Credit Suisse Group AG and Standard Chartered Plc said yesterday that stimulus is likely to be smaller than the 4 trillion yuan ($630 billion at today’s exchange rate) package announced in 2008.
Credit Suisse economists said spending on investment will probably range from 1 trillion yuan to 2 trillion yuan. Standard Chartered said China is starting a “mini-me” version of the prior stimulus.
Tue May 29, 2012 10:55pm ESTComments Off on Noise and Signal — Nassim Taleb
When consuming information, we strive for more signal and less noise. Intuitively we feel like the more information we consume the more signal we receive. While this is probably true on an absolute basis, Nassim Taleb argues in this excerpt from his forthcoming book, Antifragile, that it is not true on a relative basis. He contends that as you consume more data, and the ratio of noise to signal increases, the less you know what’s going on and the more inadvertent trouble you are likely to cause.
Had the pleasure of seeing Doc pick many times, but my favorite would have to be at Merlefest, named for his late son, Merle Watson. Doc was a huge influence on my playing. He played so simply, nothing fancy, and it always sounded just right.
If there is anything good to be said, it is that Earl and Doc are probably tearing it up right now, and I bet Doc can finally see.
Tue May 29, 2012 10:16pm ESTComments Off on The Housing Bottom Is Here
Weisenthal acknowledges the poor performance posted in today’s Case-Shiller index but decides that once the data is “unpacked” that “housing is bottoming.”
Read the bizarre story of convicted bomber and perjurer Brett Kimberlin successfully winning a suit so that a blogger is no longer allowed to write about Kimberlin’s criminal past.
Tue May 29, 2012 8:58pm ESTComments Off on On Derivatives: Should We Worry or Just Ignore The Cries of Wolf ?
I say regulation and full transparency is needed. Those institutions that play in the market above and beyond the basic hedge should have a separate business division tht can potentially win big or lose big without hurting the institution or the tax payers.
Tue May 29, 2012 8:10pm ESTComments Off on Markets Favorite Hail Mary: $FB To Build Phone
Yeah, every major technology corporation should build a fucking smart phone. They won’t engross each other’s market share at all…
Facebook (FB -9.62%) plans to release its own smartphone next year, according to New York Times tech writer Nick Bilton, who cites several Facebook employees and allies.
This wouldn’t be the newly public social network’s first stab at building its own smartphone, or even its second, and not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.
“Hardware is an extraordinarily difficult, low-margin, commodity business” that “Facebook knows absolutely nothing about,” says Henry Blodget at Business Insider. But chief executive Mark Zuckerberg seems determined, reportedly hiring more than half a dozen former Apple (AAPL +1.77%) engineers who worked on the iPhone.
Here, five reasons Facebook would actually be wise to build its own handset:
Tue May 29, 2012 8:00pm ESTComments Off on Rand Paul To Introduce Bills To Strip Pakistan Funding
A U.S. senator announced Tuesday he would introduce a bill stripping Pakistan of all foreign aid unless the doctor imprisoned for helping the CIA track Usama bin Laden is released. The Obama administration, meanwhile, appeared unwilling to budge from its talking points on the issue, despite an impassioned plea for U.S. intervention from Dr. Shakil Afridi’s family.
“The blame has been placed on my brother because of America,” Shakil’s brother, Jamil, told Fox News during an interview in Pakistan. “We should get justice and protection.”
Jamil Afridi claimed his brother had been tortured by Pakistani authorities.
In Washington, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he would introduce a pair of bills next week to address Afridi’s plight. One would strip Pakistan, which received $2.1 billion from the U.S. for the current fiscal year, of all foreign aid until Afridi’s 33-year sentence is overturned and he’s allowed to leave the country; the bill other would grant Afridi U.S. citizenship.
The measures would go beyond the vote by a Senate panel last week to strip Pakistan of $33 million in aid.
“Pakistan must understand that they are choosing the wrong side. They accuse Dr. Afridi of working against Pakistan, but he was simply helping the U.S. capture the head of Al Qaeda. Surely Pakistan is not linking their interests with those of an international terrorist organization,” Paul said in a statement. “Foreign aid has been an abysmal failure precisely for this reason — we give the aid to governments who then turn and work against our national interest. That must end.”
Administration officials have made a similar case, saying repeatedly that Afridi was working against Al Qaeda, not the Pakistani government.
