One problem with some of the conventional wisdom regarding investing is that it doesn’t distinguish between secular bull and bear markets. What makes sense in a secular bull market doesn’t necessarily make sense during secular bear markets.
Conventional wisdom says that long-term investors should generally eschew hedging, since the costs of hedging can lower long-term returns. [...]

Kevin Rudd has been forced to resign as Australia’s Prime Minister, to be replaced with his deputy Julia Gillard, who is taking a more conciliatory tack on the Super Tax Rudd proposed. This is bullish news, obviously, for Aussie miners such as BHP, as was the bullish quarterly report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural [...]

When I was in the Army Reserve, we’d have formations out on the pavement behind the Reserve Center a couple of times per drill. In one NCO class, we rotated platoon leadership roles; whoever led the platoon that day would stand alone, in front of it, during formation. We had these formations during the winter [...]

Tim Knight posting a clip of a scene from Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia on his blog reminded me of when that movie came out, in 1999. The stock market was soaring, unemployment was around 4%, the World Trade Center was still standing… a different time.
Anyhow, one sunny Sunday afternoon — maybe a week or [...]

A smattering of recent posts on the Short Screen message boards:

Hesperian: China pulling a fast one on the markets? , Another reason to be wary of China, Stay Away from Boats.
Shana: Please recommend Three Books or major blogs [for a young investor]
Eric: BP: Done bleeding or still room to drop?
Yarek: Cruise Lines and Timing.

Simonsboss: [...]

1) The way Congressional Representatives badgered BP CEO Tony Hayward last week was not Congress’s finest moment.
2) Last week’s $20 billion arm-twisting wasn’t this White House’s finest moment either.
3) BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg has been subjected to ojust behandling by monolingual Americans imputing bad intent to his use of the unidiomatic expression “small [...]

From Matthew Engel’s column in today’s FT, “Hell is other people’s vuvuzelas”:
Non-football fans who wish to understand this phenomenon can log onto vuvuzela.fm or download an iPhone app. You may find yourself agreeing with the spokesman for the American National Hockey League who warned: “Anyone who brings a vuvuzela to an NHL game will be [...]