They are known as “quants” because they do quantitative finance. Seduced by a vision of mathematical elegance underlying some of the messiest of human activities, they apply skills they once hoped to use to untangle string theory or the nervous system to making money. "
They Tried to Outsmart Wall Street." [spoiler inside]
[more inside]
posted by dersins
on Mar 10, 2009 -
38 comments
Confused about what caused this whole credit crisis? Let me Paddy Hirsch from Marketplace explain it to you in
this surprisingly entertaining and easy to understand video. While you're there, check out his
explanation of short selling and
credit default swaps. I wish this guy was my finance professor.
posted by JPowers
on Oct 23, 2008 -
23 comments
The National Journal opened its
Political Stock Exchange site this week, creating a free, play-money version of the various political market sites. New users get $10,000 in virtual money to bid on real-life options, including all Senate races, the first round of primaries, potential VP selections, and the margin of Bush's approval rating by the end of the year.
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Sep 20, 2007 -
17 comments
Stock Spam Effectiveness Monitor Spam comes in, graphs come out.
You are not buying stock based on spam, but surely someone must be, or else you wouldn't be flooded with more spam everyday. This tracks one user's inbox and the stocks spammed therein. A bit more analysis
here and
here
posted by mikepop
on Apr 26, 2006 -
11 comments
Whooops! While making a required filing to the state ethics commission, Ohio Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell finds Diebold shares in his stock portfolio that he now claims to have bought "accidentally." Yes,
that Diebold -- the e-voting company whose chairman promised to "
deliver the vote" to George Bush. And yes,
that Blackwell, whose state
helped deliver the White House to the GOP. Blackwell insists that the humble amount of Diebold stock was in one of those "
blind trust" type of arrangements that worked out so rewardingly for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
[newsfilter via RawStory.]
posted by digaman
on Apr 4, 2006 -
108 comments
Before Enron Houston, Texas had been the locus of a
stock scandal of a slightly different sort. Growing up in Houston in the 80s and 90s, I never associated the word "Sharpstown" with anything but a mall, but the area underwent a
development mired in scandal.
In the late 1960s Frank W. Sharp, a Houston businessman, negotiated a deal with a few Texas House Democrats; they would help pass a piece of legislation, and in turn, he would ensure that they would make a profit from his company's stock. In 1971, the dealings
came to light. Most of the public officials connected with the scandal were run out of office, but somehow
one man beat the resulting karma, even it was a a few decades later. But some good did come out of this, as the Texas
Open Records Act was expanded in the aftermath of the scandal.
posted by lychee
on May 15, 2004 -
3 comments
The Perpetual War Fund - First there was the Vice Fund (covered in Mefi
Sept. 3). Now, The Perpetual War Portfolio:
"an evenly weighted basket of five stocks poised to succeed in the age of perpetual war. The stocks were selected on the basis of popular product lines, strong political connections and lobbying efforts, and paid-for access to key Congressional decision makers." Somebody's going to profit from the machineries of death. Why not you?
posted by troutfishing
on Dec 12, 2002 -
24 comments
Comstock offering free flag images "If you need an image of the American flag for your website or a print piece, please accept this gesture as our admittedly tiny effort to somehow help. You may use any of these images without charge. With all best wishes..."
posted by johnjreeve
on Sep 17, 2001 -
3 comments
There were more than 4 Crashes Today as the world markets were
hammered. Percentage-wise, Germany is down 10, Paris down 7, London down almost 6, and similar catastrophic drops in
the Americas forced nearly all of the world's markets to close for the day early. I'm worried about the Hang Seng and Nikkei which open very soon. Hopefully the NYSE and Nasdaq will not open for a week or so to let cooler heads prevail.
posted by Kevs
on Sep 11, 2001 -
16 comments
Download stock photos without paying, don't go to jail. Istockphotos.com seems to be offering free stock photography submitted by artists and photographers. And it's endorsed by Zeldman, even. But...what's to keep people from uploading Eyewire images and calling them their own, thereby illegally distributing them to thousands of people who'll use them on websites, magazines, etc. Istockphotos is legally covered, but what about the designer?
posted by Karl
on Jun 20, 2001 -
1 comment
Trading halted on Yahoo's stock... I realize that financial news is rarely posted here, at MeFi, but Yahoo is a big player... and there's a LOT of speculation going on about what is prompting the halt: a take-over announcement, an acquisition announcement... blah blah blah. Any insight from you folks?
posted by silusGROK
on Mar 7, 2001 -
15 comments
Time to short Microsoft stock. After building a behemoth though a quarter-century of tacitly encouraging piracy to increase market share, Microsoft appears to be getting ready to drink the anti-piracy kool-aid. Look for revenues to shrink accordingly.
posted by aurelian
on Jan 9, 2001 -
11 comments
Today, I was searching for some stock art photos at
photodisc. I needed an image of someone programming a computer, and in that search
I found this picture. The words associated with it were all variations of 'hacker' but I was surprised that I didn't see 'leather and flashlight fetish' in the keywords. And by the way, don't you think a hacker would know how to type correctly?
posted by mathowie
on Oct 1, 1999 -
0 comments
