Companies & Markets

Fizzing Optimism For Wild Financial Engineering In 2014

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Fizzing Optimism For Wild Financial Engineering In 2014

Nothing could have been a more pungent metaphor for the current investment climate than the headline, “Macau gambling revenue hits record $45 bn in 2013.”

LEAKED Confession: Cesspool Of Greek-German Corruption

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on LEAKED Confession: Cesspool Of Greek-German Corruption

Apparently, it has been impossible to sell Greece any weapons at all, not even a water pistol, without bribing officials at the Defense Ministry. But it takes two to tango. And in holier-than-thou Germany, the defense industry has been all too eager to dance with Greece.

When Soaring Margin Debt, Sign of Investor Confidence, Turns Into A Nightmare On Steroids

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on When Soaring Margin Debt, Sign of Investor Confidence, Turns Into A Nightmare On Steroids

There have been three mega-crashes in my investing lifetime, and three concurrent peaks in margin debt. In April, margin debt broke the record set in 2007 and has continued to rise. Over the last three months, it has soared 10.9%. Are we there yet?

Unleash the lawyers! Mounting Costs Of NSA Scandal To Bleed US Tech For Years

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Unleash the lawyers! Mounting Costs Of NSA Scandal To Bleed US Tech For Years

Blowback: What’s rising for US tech companies like a pile of fuming manure? The costs of working hand-in-glove with the NSA to build a seamless, borderless, indiscriminate spy dragnet. Now add an all-American cost to the pile: class-action lawsuits.

Silicon Valley Frenzy: Big Bucks, Big Data, and Spying

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Silicon Valley Frenzy: Big Bucks, Big Data, and Spying

The government spy-services marketplace, part of Big Data, is juicy. Investors clamor to get in on it. Scores of startups have sprung up. The hottest one is Palantir. Its valuation jumped 50% in three months – to $9 billion! Its technologies, designed for the CIA to track terrorists, have transitioned to track you and me.

Microsoft Protests NSA Taps (I Hear The Crinkly Sounds Of A Bag Being Pulled Over My Head)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Microsoft Protests NSA Taps (I Hear The Crinkly Sounds Of A Bag Being Pulled Over My Head)

That the NSA might have tapped into Microsoft’s “cloud” services, along with Google’s and Yahoo’s, turned into a publicity nightmare. Now Microsoft, which collaborates tightly with the NSA and other agencies on a host of projects, counter-attacks. With very mixed results.

The Stock Bubble In Context (Will The Last Bear Please Turn Out The Lights?)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Stock Bubble In Context (Will The Last Bear Please Turn Out The Lights?)

Stock market bubbles – they allow investors to make the mostest the fastest – don’t happen in a vacuum. They happen in a context. But this time, the context is different. Very different.

Argentine Stocks React to President Kirchner’s Latest Handiwork

by Bianca Fernet •  • Comments Off on Argentine Stocks React to President Kirchner’s Latest Handiwork

By Bianca Fernet, Argentina, The Bubble: President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner returned to her post this week, shuffling her cabinet and shaking up financial markets. Balding men marked the occasion by holding their heads in their hands in front of computer screens.

Here Is Proof (Provided By Japan Inc.) Why Abenomics Fails The Real Economy

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Here Is Proof (Provided By Japan Inc.) Why Abenomics Fails The Real Economy

The beneficiaries of Abenomics are now coming out of the woodwork with soaring profits – but they’re doing the opposite of what Abenomics promised they’d do: they’re diversifying away from Japan.

NSA Spying Crushes US Tech Companies in Emerging Markets (“An Industry Phenomenon,” Says Cisco’s Chambers)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on NSA Spying Crushes US Tech Companies in Emerging Markets (“An Industry Phenomenon,” Says Cisco’s Chambers)

Cisco CEO John Chambers had a euphemism for it during the earnings call: “challenging political dynamics” in China, without ever naming the NSA. Then there was India and others, including Russia where Snowden is holed up, and where sales outright collapsed.