Jason Zweig, author of the Wall Street Journal's Intelligent Investor column, wrote an interesting article regarding confirmation bias for today's paper. Confirmation bias refers to the tendency of individuals to seek out information that confirms preconceived opinions or ideas. This ...
As the Financial Times reported today, inflation expectations in the United States and the UK have been reaching levels not seen since late last year. In the case of the United States, implied inflation expectations appear to be pushing past ...
The Economist recently interviewed Fu Ying, China’s Ambassador to Britain. A number of interesting topics related to China’s export driven economy were discussed along with the government’s effort to provide fiscal stimulus to spur consumer demand. As I wrote last ...
The price of natural gas has been a bargain lately when measured by the energy content of gas compared to crude oil. Some attempts have already been made to substitute cheap natural gas for expensive oil. While both commodities have ...
On the surface, the idea of sacrificing fourteen percent, or one-seventh, of a retail store's potential selling hours seems absurd enough. To do so on a day of the week when most consumers have a day off seems to be ...
The Wall Street Journal has reported that certain debt issuers, including Heineken N.V. and Credit Suisse Group, have been able to sell bonds without obtaining traditional credit ratings on the securities: While small in scope so far, the deals indicate ...
In the Fortune magazine interview shown below, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein provides his insights on the overall economy, prospects for job growth, and the controversy surrounding his firm's compensation practices. Read this article for some background information and to ...
Like many American investors, I have been trying to expand my circle of competence to the point where I can evaluate and potentially participate in opportunities in China. The growth patterns in China have been widely reported and there may ...
Barron's published an interesting article this weekend by Jonathan A. Knee, director of the Media Program at Columbia Business School and co-author of The Curse of the Mogul. (Note: Mr. Knee's co-author for the book is Bruce Greenwald who has ...
The Economist interviewed Stephen Roach, Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia. In the interview, Mr. Roach comments on the need for China to increase domestic consumption which is a step that many have recommended in recent years. In order to accomplish ...
The Financial Times Lex Column reports that the combined ratio of American reinsurers through the first three quarters of 2009 averaged about 94 percent. The combined ratio is the sum of the claims ratio and the loss ratio and essentially ...
Earlier this week, Qatar Airways made history by operating the first ever commercial flight using a fuel partially derived from natural gas. The flight from London to Doha used a mixture of 50% conventional jet fuel and 50% synthetic kerosene ...
The best investors are those who have a combination of a calm and rational temperament and a fundamental grounding in value oriented investment principles. For those who lack a rational temperament, rather than falling into despair and the arms of ...
After several years of above normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic-Caribbean basin, it appears that the El Nino weather pattern has delivered a very quiet season -- so far. Reuters reports that the Atlantic hurricane season has been the quietest ...
The Financial Times has posted a two-part interview with Professor Bruce Greenwald of Columbia Business School. Here are links to the two-part video series along with a summary of each segment courtesy of FT.com. Read this post for more details ...
The Economist published an insightful article today regarding the nature of wealth. The article merits some additional thought given the nature of bubbles and the illusion of rising levels of financial wealth that are not backed up by claims on ...
Business Week recently published a special report on smart-grid technology, a subject that we have followed closely in the past. The idea of developing an electric grid that can pass information and energy in both directions between utilities and customers ...
There is certainly no shortage of commentary on the unemployment statistics that come out every month and most value investors do not make investment decisions based on macroeconomic factors alone. In general, it is always a good time to invest ...
The problem of matching the production of renewable energy with electricity demand has been a major challenge standing in the way of wider adoption of solar and wind powered plants. While electricity demand can be forecast with a great deal ...
In this Fox Business News interview, Prof. Robert Shiller comments on the current state of the housing market, the impact of the upcoming expiration of the $8,000 home purchase credit, and prospects for a price recovery over the next several ...