January 2, 2012 – 9:04 pm
Happy new year. A chatty column in the Financial Times, “Three cheers for new year trepidation,” touches on a central issue for investor relations in 2012: How should companies communicate with shareholders about what we can’t foresee? Citing the obvious risks in trying to predict what will happen in a fragile global economy, FT management editor [...]
September 20, 2010 – 1:52 pm
Chatting with colleagues last week, someone tossed out the phrase “the new normal.” And a co-worker shot back: “What is the new normal, anyway?” Ever so conveniently, then, on Thursday and Friday I attended the client conference of DeMarche Associates, a Kansas City-based investment consultant. The theme: “The New Normal and How It Affects Investment Strategy.” [...]
Going into Fourth of July weekend, a friend who has helped raise capital for privately owned businesses – and a couple of public companies – offered his theory about why capital isn’t flowing into enterprises that could reignite our economy. There’s “plenty of money” sitting in private equity funds and other investors’ stashes, this serial [...]
January 27, 2010 – 11:47 pm
The late economist John Maynard Keynes has been mentioned more than once in the news coverage of President Obama’s State of the Union speech.
For a little comic relief from all the analysis of Washington and our economy, here’s a fun video – OK, so maybe fun is in the eye of the beholder – let’s [...]
November 13, 2009 – 1:33 pm
The CFO of a local company made a good point today during a panel discussion on the state of the capital markets: It’s the substance of a company’s story that matters to investors, more than style or charisma – especially in tough times.
Ryan VanWinkle, senior VP and CFO of NYSE-listed Ferrellgas Partners LP, was asked [...]
October 29, 2009 – 8:29 pm
I’m getting a mental picture: The confident commander-in-chief strides across the flight deck of the USS Economy and addresses the aircraft carrier’s crew as a MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner flies overhead. “The recession is over!”
Well, maybe we should hold off on photo ops.
The good news on third-quarter GDP rising, breaking the recessionary streak, doesn’t mean we’re finished with [...]
September 6, 2009 – 1:44 am
Krugman explains why the economists got it so wrong. (NYTimes)
Financial bloggers: upgrade Wordpress to avoid nasty worm. (Mashable)
AIG selling asset management unit. (WSJ)
Time for Wall Street to make a restitution (BrokeandBroker)
Fidelity spiffs up its bond system (Barron’s sub. req’d)
Deep thoughts from Black Swam capital (Pragmatic Capitalist)
Historical lessons from disincentivizing bankers (Felix Salmon, Reuters)
Why do [...]
The cover of the latest Newsweek shouts “The Recession Is Over!” A balloon and an exclamation point add emphasis, although writer Daniel Gross layers on the qualifications – making it clear the economy, even if it is at a turning point, remains in turmoil.
For my money, it’s a little premature to celebrate. I’m skeptical of newsweekly [...]
Financial institutions filed nearly 13% more reports of fraud compared with 2007 (The Economist)
Value stock screen for potential activist targets (The Manual of Ideas)
Comparison of All-World ETFs (ETF Trends)
I think this recession (and sluggish recovery) will continue to make history, and that most of these forecasts are actually too optimistic (Calculated Risk)
On Covestor’s push into [...]
A Stanford University business professor, Jeffrey Pfeffer, takes on “shareholder capitalism” in an article in the July-August issue of Harvard Business Review.
Pfeffer argues in “Shareholders First? No So Fast …” that the pendulum is swinging from stockholders toward stakeholders. Noting the recent political changes and populist backlash after the carnage in financial and credit markets, he [...]
