MetaFilter posts tagged with money and bonds

Cui bono?

Pastabagel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:41:30 -0800

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.5%. Wall Street aggressively demanded the cut to stop the sub-prime mortgage contagion from triggering a credit crisis among large US and foreign investment banks and the collapse of their over-leveraged hedge funds, which ultimately threatened to drag the US economy into recession. The market rallied this week in response to the Fed's move. But there is no free lunch. Oil rallied also, to an all-time high of $81/bbl. The rate cut shattered the dollar, sending it to new lows against the Euro and to parity with the Canadian dollar. The falling dollar puts pressure on China, whose dollar-pegged currency has attracted the ire of many US politicians, causing China to threaten the US with the "nuclear option" of diversifying its foreign currency reserves away from the dollar. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia refuses to cut its interest rates in lockstep with the US for the first time ever, signaling that it may break its long standing dollar peg as well. In other words, foreign investors who currently own roughly 50% of the publicly-owned portion of the US national debt may flee the US bond markets. Result? We'll probably slide into recession anyway. But there is a silver lining: it turns out that many of those large investment banks and hedge funds were making far more money than anyone thought all along. Confused? Some background: Currency carry trade - how currencies are related to one another How interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, and trade deficits are interrelated How interest rates and bonds are related Peviously 1 2 3 4

Learn About the Stock Market While Wasting Time Online

ThePinkSuperhero — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:49:12 -0800

Want to learn about investing? Morningstar, an independent investment researcher, is offering 172 free online "classes" on stocks, bonds, funds, and portfolio building. And there's nifty quizzes at the end of each lesson where you can earn points that can be used for Morningstar products.

In Bowie We Trust... again?

me3dia — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 08:41:43 -0800

An unexpected side effect of iTunes. Remember Bowie Bonds? Introduced in 1997, bonds tied to future profits of music artists (besides Bowie, James Brown and the Isley Brothers offered them) tanked with the advent of online filesharing. Thanks to iTunes, some on Wall Street are betting that the Bowie Bond is a concept with a future.

SS Trust Fund

Sixtieslibber — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 07:30:40 -0800

Yesterday President Bush said, "Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent." Is he advocating that the US default on its Treasury bonds?

Bond Funds and the Liquidity Trap

alms — Tue, 20 May 2003 05:59:55 -0800

Interest rates are so low that you lose money buying bond funds. A preview of the liquidity trap?

samsara — Tue, 26 Jun 2001 06:16:15 -0800

Scripophily is the misunderstood love of owning stocks and bonds that shouldn't be worth anything anymore. So why not make a business out of it? I'm just glad to see that e-toys is doing good once again.