The Justinian

This issue is one of the more divisive in the trading world. Few traders have a middle-of-the-road view on it, and perhaps with good reason. Some of the most notorious hedge fund collapses in history, including Amaranth and Long Term Capital Management, have been partly blamed on strategies that involved “throwing good money […]

Remember all that talk not too long ago about the United States inverted yield curve? We don’t hear it a lot anymore as the NASDAQ hits a six year high today. You also probably didn’t hear much about this, the yield curve is the Eurozone is now inverted. As stated in the Financial Times:
Analysts say […]

Ok it’s an admittedly arrogant title, especially considering we’re not in the business of writing recommendations.  While I will make statements of opinion from time to time, I’m mostly interested in providing a daily sampling of the most interesting developments in the financial world. 
Nevertheless, the news that China will be diversifying its $1 trillion + […]

We all know about online gambling being banned not long ago shutting huge huge poker, sports betting, and other casino sites. What some don’t realize is how great gambling really is for society. The ‘big board’ is the biggest casino on the planet. With futures you can bet not just on crops and how much […]

There’s rarely been doubt that Google is “master of its domain.” But when newspapers and other traditional media sources start clambering to work with the Goog, it makes one wonder whether the company’s dominance can extend beyond its natural realm.

Word is that Google is marrying its existing technology, which allows advertisers to better pinpoint […]

How about demand from a huge telecommunications company for the one piece of technology nearly everyone carries with them at nearly every waking hour? Or how about demand from different huge companies that control the real American pastime: watching television.

YouTube and Verizon may be partnering. In addition Comcast and Time Warner may be players as […]

Read any semi-sophisticated financial mag or publication and you’ll see the same terms used over and over. The same five to ten catch phrases are used daily to explain a wide variety of market movements. The classics? “Reserve diversification” explains the forex market’s gyrations, “inflation fears” are to blame for falls in stocks and rises […]

With interest rates on currencies ever changing, so do the spreads on the interest rates, as well as the exchange rate between the currencies.  When making a carry trade, you want the highest yield spread possible, and the most stable exchange rate possible (conditions favoring the currency you are buying are even better of course.)  […]

For newbie forex traders, a mere mention of the term Non-Farm Payrolls (NFPs) brings delusions of grandeur. Fifty points or pips made in 50 seconds, that kind of thing. For stock traders, NFPs stand for fear perhaps more than anything else, as huge market swings can occur before the market open. This leaves most equities […]

Credit card companies, banks, loan sharks, online stock trading sites (make all their money in margin interest), and mortgage companies make a lot of money in the huge business of lending. On a retail level however, lending people money generally isn’t a profitable or painless way of investing. This is changing. “Social lending” is catching […]