Wall Street

Quick history lesson: Mark-to-the-Market was a practice originally begun by futures and commodity traders in the 19th century.  Essentially, mark-to-the-market means your holdings must be "priced" every night…at the price they can be sold at. (…)

A client called me today, curious about buying shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  He said, "I'm sitting at home, watching the stock market channel and I'm amazed.  I am seeing all of the shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac changing hands.  The stock prices are so cheap.  But, Tom, I thought these two companies were gone?  Can I still buy them — and maybe make a few bucks on them? (…)

That was the headline I found over at CBS Marketwatch.  As usual, the news media is whipping (anyone who will read) into a frenzy about Lehman Brothers.  More news may be forthcoming about Lehman — between the time I finish writing this and the time you read this. (…)

Pretty sad story reported recently…but sad, as in pathetic. (…)

In one of my most recent posts I discussed the "ready to explode" product issued by brokerage firms called "auction rate preferred securities."
Well, that didn't take long. (…)

Nearly 20 years ago, when I worked in Chicago, I became friends with a gentleman named Joe Lopresti. Today, Joe is the President of Arlington Capital Management. (…)

Sometimes, trying to get your arms around a gigantic number (for example, the area of earth covered by land) just takes time. (…)

"Mr. Valentine has set the price!"
Or, in this case Mr. Bernanke sets the price. (…)

You may not have heard of the term "auction rate preferred securities."
Yet.
If you have not, you probably will soon. (…)

The line heard in every economic recession, and every single stock market pullback is: this time it's different. (…)

We don't make predictions at Mullooly Asset Management. And we rarely hold anyone else's predictions as credible. So keep that in mind with this post. (…)

In the coming months and years, you will hear more publicly traded companies than ever before discussing the idea of GOING PRIVATE.  Even with the mortgage mess, there is STILL access to capital. (…)

Let's talk about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
How could these two companies be "OK" a week ago — and now this week they seem on the brink of disaster? (…)

Frequent readers have seen earlier posts where I have discussed option expiration week and the volatility that comes with it.  But there was scant mention of option expiration at all this week.  Options expired on Friday and the Dow Jones dropped 220 points. (…)

Do you remember the television program, "Who wants to be a Millionaire"?The show was actually featured in a terrific book "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Suriowiecki. (…)

The period we're in now is not necessarily a "bull market" or a "bear market" but more like a structurally "fair market." I didn't make that up on my own — Tom Dorsey, from Dorsey Wright and Associates in Richmond coined that term. (…)

All these firms hold the same investments.
There is STILL considerable risk in the group.
Why did this happen to just Bear Stearns? (…)

UPDATE: Sunday evening, 03/16/2008: Bear Stearns to be acquired by JPMorgan Chase for $2.00 in stock swap deal.
That is NOT a typo!
The stock closed at $30 on Friday. On Thursday, it was $57.00. (…)

The news surrounding Bear Stearns on Friday morning was not good! There are several important elements to this story. (…)

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped below 12,000 today, March 7. In technical terms, this is a significant move. (…)