August 24, 2007
Most Read Stories (24-Aug-2007 9:54:38)
Is anybody reading these posts? They seem to generate very few comments.
Here are the top five most read stories on the Bloomberg in the last day with selected excerpts (and my comments, if any, in italics).
As of 24-Aug-2007 at 9:54:38 (Beijing time):
- Bank of America’s Countrywide Purchase Boosts Stocks
- Goldman Global Equity Hedge Fund Rises 12% After Cash Infusion
- Commercial Paper Has Biggest Weekly Drop Since 2000
- Joe Montana’s Firm Says Fund Declined 12% in August
- U.S. Stocks Fall, Led by Materials Producers; Home Depot Drops
“Bank of America gets shares that yield 7.25 percent and can be converted into common stock at a price of $18. While the shares are convertible at any time, Bank of America will be subject to trading restrictions for 18 months. [This] will increase Countrywide’s shares by 19 percent, diluting earnings for holders of common stock, and add $145 million annually in preferred dividends. Converting the preferred stock would give Bank of America 111 million common shares, or a 16 percent stake in Countrywide.”
Smart move on BofA’s part
“‘Usually such behavior causes first pain and then opportunity.’” — James Simons
Right, but the pained are usually in no position to grab the opportunity even if they recognize it (unless you’re Goldman).
“‘The commercial paper market, in terms of the asset-backed commercial paper market, is basically history.’” — Bill(ionaire) Gross
“‘What changed in August was the apparent de-leveraging of quantitative equity market neutral funds as a source of greatest liquidity when there was none to be had in equity portfolios.’”
Say whaaaaa?
“‘The crisis is far from over, but I think, related to Countrywide, we’re in better shape today than we were yesterday.’” — Angelo Mozilo
I’m chuckling, Angie. What about tomorrow?
August 24th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Yes,
Please continue with these & the del.icio.us posts.
Cheers!
August 24th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Yes I read them, but you probably already knew that lol the more comments the bettererest ;-)
Agree on the BofA comment. If I were a top C exec I’d be going: “damn we should have done that”.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
@galatime: Thanks for the comment.
@eyal: I’m sure that Buffett has been very active in the market recently along with other cash-rich investors.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Me likey the posts.
I usually read or see the headlines on bloomberg, but don’t always have time to read them or think about them in depth. You help out with that…
August 24th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Hi, Chairman. I like the most-read stories (and the accompanying snark!). I do wonder if they should be included in your regular blog posts, or if you might consider putting them in the right-hand column (or even dedicate a page region to them). They are different creatures than your regular posts. I realize, of course, that your blogging platform may impose some limits.
In any event, they’re a nice addition to a great blog!
August 24th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Hi Chairman, I found your page about a month ago… Since then I’ve never missed a post. I’ve serached around the archive too. I’ve been trading on the stock market for about a year and a half or so. Recently I started day trading with CFDs. I had some good results, but lost more than I earned. I tried to analyze my mistakes and make rules to minimize the losses and maximize the profits. Somehow I found some posts on yahoo from 2003 about the dummies trade and it got my attention since this is what I’ve been trying to do for some time now. That’s how I got here. Your posts and comments speed up my learning process and they kept me from making new mistakes. Thanks a lot! Keep up the good work! Greetings from Hungary,
Peter
August 24th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
@Jason: I like the posts too and will continue with them until I am fired and lose access to the Bloomberg. ;-)
@Zasdad: Thanks for your kind comment and I agree it takes up quite a bit of real estate on the front page, but I don’t see a practical way to stick it in the sidebar. I’ll think about it some more and try to figure out what to do.
@Peter: I’m thrilled to hear that you haven’t missed a single post — this is something that none of my loyal dozen readers can probably claim. ;-)
August 24th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Found your site this week. I’ll be visiting every day.
Please keep it up.
Thanks,
Rod
August 24th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
We are reading and appreciate the most read stories posts! (for those of us poor folk who don’t have access to the old bloomberg…)
August 24th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I like them.
I guess that is one way to get comments, ask why there are none.
I just think the summaries and your comments speak for themselves, requiring no clarification.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
i read them and like them. i subscribe to your RSS feed so i hardly miss a post either.
if it makes you happy i am willing to post a useless comment on every post :)
August 25th, 2007 at 2:24 am
Fear not, mr chairman your website is my homepage & has been for a long time
always interesting reading
Ill bet its also the homepage of others too
August 25th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Yeah I read them too, it might sound lazy but my only news source is you, the economist, news.google.com and through work. So you are doing pretty good :)
August 25th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Thanks for the feedback and encouragement, guys. @Dan: It’s true, the best way to get comments, like ad clicks, is to bitch about not getting any. ;-)
August 25th, 2007 at 11:20 am
love the Bloomy list…
… I also check same sort of list at the NY Times site. go to their home page and scroll down, look right.
they list the top 25 stories emailed/blogged/searched.
great way to quickly get up to speed with “what’s news”… and also find fantastic off-the-beaten-path stories that would otherwise be buried in the artsy fartsy/science/politics sections of the paper/site.
Great source of public sentiment, too. When something big is going on the list will be mostly serious stuff…. scanning the list today reveals a slow summer news day (one of the top ten is a story about 70 year olds having sex– Ewwwww).
August 25th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
jeff: Yes, those lists are a great way to cut through the clutter. I have RSS feeds of the most read/view/emailed from a number of MSM sources (CSM, FT, NYT, WSJ, etc.) at Bloglines … I liked the sex into their 70s story because I plan to be having twice as much sex at 70 that I have at 35. ;-)
August 25th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Zasdad: Wikipedia tells me that “snark” means a SNide remARK … thanks for teaching me a new word. (I knew snide: “derogatory in a malicious, superior way.”)