re: Random Money/Business/Finance Thoughts Thread

J.P. Morgan’s bet against J.P. Morgan
Commentary: Sounds crazy, but it worked LINK ][LINK]


Commentary: Sounds crazy, because its shitty journalism.

So I see this headline on marketwatch, and I'm like "that's interesting." My initial thought was "I bet this guy thinks fair value gains are trades, which is hilarious and sad," and sadly that was confirmed. Pitiful journalism is an understatement, and from some guy who's been writing there for years as far as I know. Its one thing to not know what you're talking about, but be able to hide behind a bunch of lingo and drop in shite from analysts and what not. I'd fire both him and the editor quite honestly.

ETA: Copy/pasted because I bet they're going to delete it because its really just credibility-obliteratingly shitty.

y MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The post-financial crisis Wall Street is doing one thing right: it’s betting against itself.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM -5.32% became the latest too-big-to-fail bank to take advantage of an interesting trade: the bank hedges the spread on its own debt. When investors bid up the yield — an indicator that they think the bank won’t pay — J.P. Morgan makes money. Read full story on J.P. Morgan earnings .

Click to Play
Mixed earnings news for J.P. Morgan
Dow Jones Newswires' Paul Vigna has details on J.P. Morgan's earnings report and other items that will impact markets, including a report on jobless claims. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

Hey, it doesn’t have to make sense, it’s Wall Street.

The end result was slightly better-than-expected but lackluster profit of $4.26 billion, for the nation’s second-biggest bank by assets. The bank reported $1.9 billion in revenue from the bets against itself — the net income from the move wasn’t immediately available.

But analysts suggest the move goosed earnings by as much as a nickel per share. At minimum the hedge added a penny or two a share to per-share earnings and, thus, helped the bank come closer to the Street’s expectations.

(As readers have pointed out, J.P. Morgan says this is an accounting measure, not a trade. But that doesn’t explain entirely why you don’t see all banks reporting such huge swings when their debt prices are moving too. And a lack of transparency in bank financial statements makes it difficult to gauge how these numbers can be calculated industry-wide.)

J.P. Morgan isn’t alone in this. Morgan Stanley MS -5.31% offset losses during the financial crisis and beyond by betting against its own debt.

Today’s bank earnings must make even the most devoted investor long for the good old days of quarterly results.

Bank earnings of yesteryear were simple, everyone made a profit and wowed the analysts. Of course, they were juiced by phony mortgages, end-of-the-quarter repurchase agreements, and 25-to-1 leverage, but ignorance was bliss. We understood them. They made us happy.

Now, they’re just betting against themselves. When you stop and think about it, it doesn’t sound so crazy after all.

— David Weidner


etaa: and yes i am mad.

quote:

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Whats your number one buy to go long right now. I need to throw 5k at sumthin. CLX?

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What time span? Risk profile?

Short - I'm heavy on cash right now
Long - APC/BP and AGNC

Sitting for REG on November 3rd. Good-bye weekends and evenings for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I need to pound through the material and then review for at least a week and a half. Clock is ticking

Just registered for BEC and AUD...hoping to take BEC at the end of November. 3 weeks to study should be enough to give it a shot. I just need to review the cost accounting -- the rest should be straightforward.

If both of those are passed, then the goal is to be done by the end of January ( )

quote:

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Dude I spent 3 days studying for BEC. You know your shite, you don't need 3 weeks, I promise.

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Well I can't take anything in December so I might as well give myself some time to recoup after REG. I'll be traveling from Mexico a lot so hopefully my flights will be productive study time.

It will be will be interesting...

Traveling is sexy the first time you do it for work. After that, it's just miserable. Would much rather be on the desk all day then crammed into a plane flying to pitches.

Yeah, I've got travel starting to ramp here as well. I'm looking forward to it. Although I don't know if I have the tech nerd look down yet for some of these trade shows.

No worries man. I understand about the studying on the weekend. There sure as hell isn't time for it during the week

YGM

Might as well put this here since an ios release garners 40 pages on the ot.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now official https://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich-now-official/
Samsung's Galaxy Nexus gets official: Android 4.0, 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display LINK ][LINK]

Random question, but what is a "high touch firm" in relation to hiring people.