In the U.K. private investors are rising

This morning’s edition of the Financial Times is reporting that the number and level of private investors in the United Kingdom has hit its highest level since May of 2008.  Recall that dark month was where Lehman Brothers collapsed and subsequently set in...

Surging holiday sales

Today’s edition of the New York Times is reporting a rise in this season’s holiday sales.  Specifically the International Council of Shopping Centers is expecting holiday sales to be up 3.5-4.0%.  Separately, ShopperTrak reported that traffic was up 3% and...

Tiny bubbles

After the dot.com bubble burst in the late 90s I had hoped that investors would have digested lessons of what an asset bubble looked like.  But as the years of the 00s ticked themselves off it was obvious that the unconscious greed that permeated your average Joe and...

Aligning incentives at gargantuan banks

News is swirling around on Wall Street about new incentive-based compensation rules being proposed for the nation’s largest banks.  The specifics of the proposed rules are not that interesting.  What is interesting is that the overarching strategy.  Aligning...