by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on World Trade Suddenly Slumps (Just Forget ‘Escape Velocity’)
While the US economy, and by extension the world economy, is desperately waiting for escape velocity to finally kick in, world trade has descended into a very unpropitious slump.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cloud Wars: Now Even the CIA Slams IBM’s Technology
Our spoiled American tech heroes yearn to get those big-fat contracts with the Intelligence Community. But it seems IBM is far better at financial engineering than actual engineering.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This Happened Twice Before, And Each Time Stocks Crashed
In 2000 and 2007. The consequences were spectacular. Now, it happened a third time in fifteen years. And it’s forming an increasingly terrifying chart.
by Electronic Frontier Foundation • • Comments Off on Stephen Colbert Brilliant Takedown of Amazon’s Ridiculous Photography Patent (Video)
By Adi Kamdar: Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, lampoons Amazon’s absurd new patent on photography in front of a white background (brief video).
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Brutal, Beneath-the-Surface, Slo-Mo Crash of Stocks
Even while the googly-eyed mainstream media celebrate the Dow’s record high, beneath the gloss, thousands of stocks are getting gutted. And the carnage is spreading.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Explosive Hidden Leverage Threatens To Blow Up the Markets
We don’t know what hedge fund manager Steven Cohen will do with the money he borrowed from Goldman Sachs. We don’t even know how much it is, though it’s a lot; the personal loan is backed by his $1 billion art collection. But we know how he’ll use it: cheap leverage.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Banks And Hedge Funds Make Curious Deal On New Structured Toxic-Waste Securities
New regulations force banks to get rid of CLOs. They’re similar to subprime-mortgage-backed CDOs that blew up in 2008. But CLOs are backed by junk corporate loans, including malodorous “leveraged loans.” And they’re booming again. So the banks made a deal.
