The Threat Of Contagion

"...today, systemic risk is more dangerous than ever. Each crisis is bigger than the one before... Too-big-to-fail banks are bigger than ever, have a larger percentage of the total assets of the banking system, and have much larger derivatives books."

  • Feb 11, 2018 8:00 PM

Softbank In Talks To Buy Stake In Reinsurance Giant Swiss Re

A few months after it purchased a sizable stake in Uber industries - receiving some of its shares at a discount - the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Japanese conglomerate Softbank is in advanced talks to buy a stake in Swiss Reinsurance giant Swiss Re...

  • Feb 7, 2018 2:31 PM

Peak Hubris

"In the past month, two well-known and highly respected money managers have made confident assertions about the markets. Their comments would lead one to believe that the future path of the market in the coming months is known. Sadly, many investors put blind faith in the words of high-profile, accomplished professionals and do little homework of their own."

  • Feb 7, 2018 1:36 PM

Peter Thiel: "Crypto Is Libertarian, AI Is Communist"

"A sufficiently powerful AI could realize the bureaucrat's dream of accurately predicting peasant farmers' potato yields months in advance from thousands of miles away. No wonder the Chinese Communist Party hates crypto and loves AI."

  • Feb 6, 2018 8:50 PM

Frontrunning: February 5

  • U.S. Stocks Set for Sharp Drop at Open (WSJ)
  • Bitcoin Drops 10% as Cryptocurrencies Sink (BBG)
  • A decade after recession, a jump in U.S. states with wage gains (Reuters)
  • Democrats See Campaign Issue in House GOP Memo Alleging Bias (BBG)
  • Trump accuses House intel panel's top Democrat of leaking information (Reuters)
  • Feb 5, 2018 8:25 AM

Match.com Dating Site Is Reporting Fake Active-User Numbers

When the company's analysts tried to verify the high level of activity (after all, the site regular advertises more than 2,500 singles "online now" - a huge number in many parts of the US) they discovered something disturbing in the website's header files: A random number generator...

  • Feb 3, 2018 9:10 PM