Joshua M Brown

This is the Remix: TRB vs. Geithner

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote an op-ed in the NYT today outlining how the stress tests on 19 of the largest US banks were conducted. This is the remix… THIS afternoon, Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve and the butcher, the baker and…

Mortimer, We're Back: Return of the Broker

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.2483668&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] X I saw a piece in the Journal today that blew my mind.  After everything we’ve been through since the fall of 2007, retail stockbrokers have begun to leave their turrets in big numbers this spring: From the Wall Street Journal via Barry Ritholtz: In April, more than 2,800 people registered as brokers…

Market Recap: The Banks!!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mum6ggkBJs&feature=related] The Reformed Broker, AKA Nouriel Houdini, here with today’s Market Recap… The news hit this morning that Bank of America (BAC) needs another $35 billion to remain solvent…so how did the market react? We took the money center banks through the f@ckin’ roof! Here’s the 3 o’clock look at the sector: Industry Top Performers…

If the World Runs in Real-Time, Why Can't the Fed?

Look, we’ve had only one soft landing since the Second World War. Basically, we’ve got it wrong every single time. Vivek Ranadivé, Founder of TIBCO Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point, turns in yet another juicy discourse, this time on the fact that David beats Goliath more often than you’d think, in warfare,…

Meltzer: Are We Tough Enough For The Coming Inflation Battle?

“No country facing enormous budget deficits, rapid growth in the money supply and the prospect of a sustained currency devaluation as we are has ever experienced deflation. These factors are harbingers of inflation.” Allan H. Meltzer, May 3rd 2009 In Allan Meltzer’s excellent New York Times op-ed piece from May 3rd, we are taken back…

Brokers Selling Pretzels…WTF?

Chicago finally got it’s very own Madoff.  His name is Charles Mosley and along with his partner Eric Bloom, he’s been a bad boy. But this guy’s not an outright thief, he’s more like a reckless moron… From Bloomberg: As Sentinel Management Group Inc. neared collapse in August 2007, piling up $950 million in losses..(the…

Market Recap: Godspeed, Dom DeLuise

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDx2Mr4XxkQ] The Reformed Broker, AKA Captain Chaos, here with today’s Market Recap… As Eighties Babies across the country said goodbye to actor Dom DeLuise, the markets said goodbye to the multi-day massive rally today.  Longs took profits in several key sectors, even as Fed Head Ben Bernanke testified to Congress that signs of stability are…

Tax Evasion Central Cutting PaineWebber Brokers

How does a big Swiss bank built on stolen Nazi gold, hidden money from African and Middle Eastern despots and un-taxed lucre from wealthy Americans with cross-border connections react to yet another multi-billion dollar quarterly loss?  That’s easy!  It fires stockbrokers. From the Financial Times: 2,500 will go in wealth management Americas, the former PaineWebber…

Close the Book on Barnes & Noble, Kindle's Here

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.2472318&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]   Amazon’s Kindle is about to light Barnes and Noble on fire and stomp on the ashes. Yeah, I said it.  What. I’ve been a big reader all my life.  In fact, I go through books like Mary Kate Olsen goes through pills, and if I can help it, I’ll go to Barnes…

Dulling the Impact of the Stress Tests

an·ti·cli·max: Something trivial or commonplace that concludes a series of significant events This is not a discussion of whether or not the upcoming 19-bank stress test results are important or whether or not they should have been conducted in the first place.  Instead, the subject I’ll pontificate on here is the masterful dissemination of the potentially disruptive…