Archive for June, 2007

  • Bancrofts to Meet With Murdoch
    , June 1st, 2007 at 11:39 am

    Maybe they changed their minds, but the Bancrofts are going to meet with Rupert Murdoch and, we can assume, listen to his bid for Dow Jones (DJ). John Carney* at DealBreaker picked up this quote:

    “If they meet, they sell,” said a Dow Jones employee familiar with the thinking of the Bancrofts.

    They’re also considering other potential bids. I really hope Murdoch wins out if for no other reason to see extra-voting-power shares lose.
    *I also stole John’s HAL 9000 image below. It’s what bloggers do.

  • Where are the Algorithms’ Yachts?
    , June 1st, 2007 at 10:14 am

    hal.jpg
    Wall Street slowly goes bionic:

    Louis Morgan, managing director of hedge-fund firm HG Trading, has never talked to his best trader. That’s because his best trader is a machine.
    Morgan’s top earner is a computer whose software can monitor thousands of stocks simultaneously, and respond in less than a blink of an eye when opportunities arise.
    “Doing what we do by hand would be impossible,” said Morgan, who focuses on statistical arbitrage — taking advantage of sudden and potentially profitable price anomalies between securities that usually trade in correlation.
    Morgan uses a computer trading system based on algorithms, complex mathematical formulas that quickly weigh a huge number of possible trades and execute orders in milliseconds (a millisecond is one thousandth of a second).

    Best of all, you don’t have to pay an algorithm a bonus.
    If all goes well, I think Wall Street can entirely displace humans by 2011. Of course, stock blogging can never be replicated by a machine. (They wouldn’t dare.)

  • Macy’s Lands the “M” Ticker
    , June 1st, 2007 at 9:58 am

    On the NYSE, the most highly prized ticker symbols are the single-letter symbols. That’s only for the very elite.
    The NYSE has always kept M and I open, and everyone assumed that was for Intel and Microsoft. Well, they apparently think they’re not going to win Microsoft over.
    Today, Macy’s (M) starts trading under M.
    Two weeks ago, the company changed its name from Federated Department Stores and it used to trade under FD.

  • 207% Returns
    , June 1st, 2007 at 9:52 am

    Since 2001, this asset has increased from $195,000 to $600,000 today. What am I talking about?
    New York City cab medallions.
    (Hat Tip: Altucher & Stockerblog.)