January 2014

Lured into “The Optimistic Unknown”

What does the fixed income side of your portfolio look like these days? What kind of Frankenstein Funds, leveraged fixed income plays or “structured products” have been shoveled into it as a result of ultra-low rates and the siren song of “alternative yield”? You might be surprised once you take a glance. This kind of…

Vol Happens

The market is not sticking with the 2013 playbook. We have gap-down opens and the Vix is back in the mix. Market participants are actually paying attention to overseas news – and not just the good news, the bad news too. In 2013, good news was good news, bad news was good news and no…

Snapchat is Stupid (but I could be wrong)

  Snapchat and the entire “ephemeral web” concept is the goofiest thing I’ve ever heard. I can’t imagine why people would want to be invested in it. The idea that disappearing content will ever have value – or that its transmission can be broadly monetized beyond a small niche of hardcore freak-users – is beyond…

Games People Play: That 1929 Analogy

I’ve railed against the foolishness of chart overlays many times before, as have friends of mine like Dan Greenhaus. I understand the use of pattern recognition and the popularity of fractals, but when you see chart overlays presented like the “1929 vs Today” one that keeps popping up, you know for a fact that it’s…