Coming Soon To Institutional Sales/Trading: Discount Brokerage

You knew it was coming sooner or later. I guess it’s coming sooner. From TheStreet.com: Goldman Sachs (GS) and other big securities dealers made bundles of money last quarter because they faced fewer competitors, but now BlackRock(BLK) is hoping to change that. BlackRock, soon to be the world’s largest money manager, is working on a…

Ripping Off The Wealthy Chinese

This is a shockingly absurd story. Goldman, Citi and the rest of the gentlemanly, altruistic global banks invented yet another disgraceful product at or around the peak of the stock market a couple of years back and they aimed it, not unlike a loaded gun, squarely at the foreheads of wealthy Chinese businessmen. The fact that…

Did We Fall Off The Bull Today?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ZrTO7yRYI] Nasty bank failure/ secondary rumors all day today… Banks down 4.5%, Oil back under $70, AIG down another 8, Dow down 180 points with a little more than an hour left. Guess we’ll see.

A Metaphor for Being Short AIG

This is what it must feel like to have been short AIG this month… [vodpod id=Groupvideo.3212572&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] X X X Full Disclosure: I have no positions, long or short, in shares of AIG for client or personal accounts. Nothing on this site should be construed as advice or an invitation to buy or sell any securities,…

The Five Stages of Panic Buying

I talk to a ton of traders, portfolio managers, brokers and high net worth investors, both on and off Wall Street. Most of them have engaged in a bit of panic buying at some point this summer as the 50% rally in US stocks surprised many smart players. Panic buying is what happens when you…

Doug Kass: 10 Reasons Why The Market Has Likely Peaked For The Year

“I am less confident as a decade of hocus-pocus borrowing and lending and 35-to-1 leverage at almost every level in both private and public sectors cannot likely be relieved in the great debt unwind over the course of only 12 months.” -Doug Kass, August 26th 2009 Doug Kass has made some tremendous calls over the…

China Pulls Out All the Props

In the face of the possible Panda Bear Market we discussed here yesterday, it seems that the guys who pull the levers in China have opted to prop up stocks rather than let nature take it’s course. According to Reuters, they have three viable options to consider as the central bank tightens rates: Halt New…

5 Midget Banks I'm Watching

With the breathtaking run-up in larger banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America, many traders are now looking at the smaller, lower quality names in the banking sector for back-from-the-dead survival plays. Above is a quick comparison I’ve put together of some of the second/ third tier banks, the ones with more regional exposure…

Enter the Panda Bear: Chinese Stocks Down 20%

The Chinese stock market, as represented by the Shanghai Composite, has doubled from it’s low this year and then peaked out in mid-July. Since it’s high last month, it has given back about 20%, which is the standard measurement of what constitutes a Bear Market. I am coining the phrase Panda Bear Market to describe this…

Trading