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Today’s the day. After months of preparing financial markets for this news, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to announce that it will finally begin shrinking its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. I know, that probably sound reeeeally boring. A bunch of central bankers talking about their balance sheet. But it’s phenomenally important. And
[Editor’s note: This letter was co-written with Tim Price, co-founder of the VT Price Value portfolio and editor of Price Value International.] In the late spring of 1720, Sir Isaac Newton decided to sell his stocks. Newton had been an investor in the South Sea Company, a famous enterprise which effectively commanded a
On August 2, 2004, Bank of America broke ground on its 2.2 million square foot, NYC headquarters – the Bank of America Tower. The all-glass tower would rise 57 stories above midtown Manhattan, with a giant spire taking the height to 1,200 ft. It’s currently the fourth-tallest building in New York City, and
Earlier today the government of China banned ICOs– initial coin offerings. We talked about ICOs last week— it’s the latest application of cryptofinance technology for companies to raise capital without having to rely on traditional methods like banks, brokers, and venture capital firms. Through an ICO, any company can raise money by selling
Quite literally as a I write these words to you, the heads of the world’s largest central banks are packing their bags and heading home after a three-day symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Central bankers aren’t exactly mega-celebrities, so their conferences don’t make international news outside of financial circles. But if people understood
In 1999 my colleague Tim Price had front row seats to the first Internet bubble. He tells a great story about being a private client portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch in London at the time, and describes how clients were clamoring to buy technology stocks. ‘Giddy’ doesn’t really do the mania justice. ‘Insane’
Uber reported yesterday that its NET LOSS totaled more than $700 million last quarter, despite pulling in a whopping $3.4 billion in revenue. (This means they spent at least $4.1 billion!) That’s the latest in a string of massive, 9-figure quarterly losses for the company. The only question I have is– how much
File this one away under “Completely Obvious…” Last night the parent company of Snapchat reported a quarterly loss of more than TWO BILLION dollars. Snapchat, of course, is the photo-focused social networking app that’s adored by tweens and adults who still live with their parents. (Talk about a lucractive demographic.) The company IPO’d
A few days ago I spoke to a finance professor at Columbia University here in New York City who has been doing a deep dive on the financial management industry. His results were pretty concerning. One of the things that he said was that fund management fees have been dramatically declining over the
Like so many other high-flying Silicon Valley startups, Clinkle was supposed to ‘make the world a better place’. Founded in 2011 by a guy barely out of his teens, the company picked up early buzz after proclaiming they would disrupt mobile payments. Or something. Silicon Valley venture capital firms were apparently so impressed
September 10, 2008 was one of the last “normal” days in the world of banking and finance. That afternoon, the US Federal Reserve published its routine, weekly balance sheet report, indicating that the central bank had total assets worth around $925 billion. Just a few days later, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, kicking
In 1988, a bank called Guardian Savings and Loan made financial history by issuing the first ever “subprime” mortgage bond. The idea was revolutionary. The bank essentially took all the mortgages they had loaned to borrowers with bad credit, and pooled everything together into a giant bond that they could then sell to