Strategies - Recent Errors Aside, Insiders Remain Reliable Indicators - NYTimes.com

Strategies - Recent Errors Aside, Insiders Remain Reliable Indicators - NYTimes.com: "Professor Seyhun said that insiders were not infallible, and that their recent failures were hardly their first misreading of the market’s direction.But since 1975, the earliest year he has studied, insiders have been correct far more often than they’ve been wrong....For the most recent 10-year period in his

Some CEOs Are Selling Their Companies Short - BusinessWeek

Some CEOs Are Selling Their Companies Short - BusinessWeek: "'There is no question these transactions should be a red flag for investors,' says Carr Bettis, the co-founder of forensic accounting firm Gradient Analytics and co-author of a recent study on hedging. 'The evidence is pretty compelling that hedges tend to be used before bad news hits the market.' Bettis' research found that in the year

How Hedges Work - BusinessWeek

How Hedges Work - BusinessWeek: "Executives who own big chunks of their company's stock often hedge their holdings to diversify and limit risk if the stock tumbles. Critics worry such transactions weaken the incentives created by equity compensation. They also warn that executives may use privileged information to hedge their shares ahead of bad news"

U.S. airlines more cautious on '10 fuel hedges | Reuters

U.S. airlines more cautious on '10 fuel hedges | Reuters: "Top U.S. airlines are taking a more cautious, though varied, approach to fuel hedging this year, after incurring blistering losses from hedges in 2008 when oil prices spiked then tumbled."And then in what has been a test question, the article answers how can they hedge the downside, while benefiting if jet fuel prices fall:" Buying some

Risky business | Penn State News | Business - Centre Daily Times

Risky business | Penn State News | Business - Centre Daily Times: "The Nittany Lion Fund, a $4.5 million mutual fund managed by Penn State students and advised by finance professor J. Randall Woolridge, teaches students the importance of risk management, ethics and money management in a real-world environment.Smeal Dean Jim Thomas said the college also plans to add a major in risk management. The

Lawmakers Find S.E.C.’s Short-Sale Rule Lacking - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

Lawmakers Find S.E.C.’s Short-Sale Rule Lacking - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com: "The original “uptick rule” was put in place during the Depression in the 1930s to prevent stocks on a downswing from being hammered into the ground by short-sellers. It barred traders from selling short, or betting that a stock would fall, unless there was an uptick in the price. The rule was abolished in 2007 by the

Bloomberg on likelihood of sovereign debt defaults

Bloomberg.com: "Ballooning public debt is likely to force several countries to default and the U.S. to slash spending, according to Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff , who in 2008 predicted the failure of big U.S. banks. "and later"Greece’s debt totaled 298.5 billion euros ($407 billion) at the end of 2009, according to the Finance Ministry. That’s more than five times more than

Bloomberg on likelihood of sovereign debt defaults

Bloomberg.com: "Ballooning public debt is likely to force several countries to default and the U.S. to slash spending, according to Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff , who in 2008 predicted the failure of big U.S. banks. "and later"Greece’s debt totaled 298.5 billion euros ($407 billion) at the end of 2009, according to the Finance Ministry. That’s more than five times more than

MinnPost - Get me to the church (and the oxytocin experiment?) on time

MinnPost - Get me to the church (and the oxytocin experiment?) on time: "Zak has also recently reported that oxytocin levels tend to rise in people while they’re watching sad video clips. Those who expressed the most intense emotional responses to the clips displayed the highest spikes in the hormone.Other research has suggested that oxytocin may incite the darker emotions of envy and

Businesses, banks hoarding cash | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Businesses, banks hoarding cash | Richmond Times-Dispatch: "'Cash accumulation by major U.S. corporations is at an all-time high since the 1960s,' said Kenneth N. Daniels, a finance professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. 'Firms are hoarding cash, banks are also not lending . . . and the economy will not rebound at the pace or the magnitude to significantly change the unemployment rate

Getting a grip on emotions - The Globe and Mail

Getting a grip on emotions - The Globe and Mail: "Here's a tip someone passed along during the financial crisis: If you find that emotions are taking over your investing decisions, deliberately enter the wrong password three times on your online brokerage account. That will block your access, and you'll only go to the trouble of unlocking your account if you're really, really sure you want to buy

The stock market barometer: a study ... - Google Books

The stock market barometer: a study ... - Google Books from 1920 byWilliam Peter Hamilton, Charles Henry DowWhile it is from 90 years ago, we will be using it in class today!

Everywhere You Go, Walgreen! - Forbes.com

Everywhere You Go, Walgreen! - Forbes.com: "Walgreen looks to expand its footprint in the New York City market.The Deerfield, Ill.-based drugstore operator said it will acquire Duane Reade in a deal worth $1.1 billion that includes the assumption of $457 million in debt. Walgreen plans to pay cash for the acquisition, which will add to its portfolio of 7,100 locations across the country."For

Bank Reform May Have $220 Bln Capital Hit - NYTimes.com

First the news:Bank Reform May Have $220 Bln Capital Hit - NYTimes.com: "Top banks will need an extra $221 billion (139.6 billion pounds) of capital and see annual profits slump by $110 billion if all proposed regulations to reform the industry are brought in, leading analysts said on Wednesday.If all the initiatives from regulators are implemented it would cut the average return on equity to 5.4

We are all biased and more from Michael Mauboussin

Great stuff on behavioral finance and need for contrarian investment from the PBS transcript of their Nightly Business interview with Mauboussin"And there is one bias that all of us share, whether your smart or not as smart and that is a tendency to extrapolate. So what we -- if we've seen good results, we think they're going to go on forever. If we've seen something bad, we think it's going to

YouTube - Hugh Hendry and Nassim Taleb February 2010

YouTube - Hugh Hendry and Nassim Taleb February 2010: "Hugh Hendry' 'Nassim Taleb' Hendry Taleb inflation deflation hyperinflation euro USD dollar forex economy bubble"Thanks to Michael S for the tip on this!

FT.com / UK - Deloitte chief reignites debate over accounting for banks' losses

An accounting article from the Financial Times that is really interesting (yeah I didn't know such animal existed either).FT.com / UK - Deloitte chief reignites debate over accounting for banks' losses: "Politicians and regulators have blamed the current system of 'incurred losses' - whereby companies may make provision for loan losses only as they occur - for exacerbating the crisis, by

SSRN-The Behavior of Hedge Funds During Liquidity Crises by Itzhak Ben-David, Francesco Franzoni, Rabih Moussawi

SSRN-The Behavior of Hedge Funds During Liquidity Crises by Itzhak Ben-David, Francesco Franzoni, Rabih Moussawi:From teh Abstract:"On average at the time of a crisis, hedge funds reduce their equity holdings by 9% to 11% per quarter (around 0.3% of total market capitalization). This effect results from large selling by up to a quarter of hedge funds and is not offset by other hedge funds

SSRN-Limits to Arbitrage During the Crisis: Funding Liquidity Constraints and Covered Interest Parity by Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, Angelo Ranaldo

SSRN-Limits to Arbitrage During the Crisis: Funding Liquidity Constraints and Covered Interest Parity by Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, Angelo Ranaldo: "...this paper finds that following the Lehman bankruptcy, these were large, persisted for months and involved strategies short in dollars. But few were the traders able to reap these profits. The constraint did not arise from elevated risks, but from

Geithner: U.S. Bond Rating Is Safe - WSJ.com

Geithner: U.S. Bond Rating Is Safe - WSJ.com: "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday that the U.S. wasn't in danger of losing its triple-A bond rating, in the wake of a warning from Moody's Investors Services about the U.S.'s treasury-bond rating.'Absolutely not,' Mr. Geithner said in an interview with ABC News's 'This Week' when asked about the prospect of the U.S. losing its top

Does an MBA Make You a Better CEO? - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

Does an MBA Make You a Better CEO? - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review: "...we tried to analyze whether having an MBA influences overall CEO performance. In a large-scale study of CEO performance since they took office, we found that other things equal, MBA CEOs had a slight performance edge over their non-MBA peers. In our analysis and ranking of the performance of 2,000 CEOs around the

25 Years of Finance - CFO Magazine - January/February 2010 Issue - CFO.com

25 Years of Finance - CFO Magazine - January/February 2010 Issue - CFO.com: "...the CFO role has broadened dramatically, in many companies expanding to that of a de facto chief operating officer. As the role has expanded, so too has the CFO's sphere of influence. As for the concern that finance chiefs too often play the fall guy…well, some changes take longer than others.The CFO position, in fact