Investment/Trends

Foodies Fight to Save Detroit With Job Hopes Pinned on Arugula

"For Greg Willerer, Detroit’s new urban frontier is a lot like the Wild West: 'For all intents and purposes, there is no government here,' said Willerer, 43, checking the greens and other crops he is growing on an acre off Rosa Parks Boulevard, across from an abandoned house with broken windows. 'If something were to happen we have to handle that ourselves.' In New York, the city has invested $600,000 in expanding Brooklyn Grange, a rooftop farming business that’s planning to open a business incubator. Seattle is breaking ground on a 'food forest,' planting seven acres of fresh produce open to the public." Continue reading →

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The Secret Plot to Prop Up the Municipal Bond Market

"Not only are capital regulations, written as parts of Basel II and Basel III, driving banks to hold government instruments such as US Treasury securities, but it is also driving banks to buy junk municipal debt. The disclosure that European banks are holding bad Detroit paper confirms my suspicions as to the true principles of the so-called safety guidelines capital requirements. They are no such thing, they are crony rules designed to prop up risky government paper. In time, as more government regions from Puerto Rico to Chicago and Los Angeles go into a financial crisis stage, we will learn of even more global bank exposure to debt from these sectors." Continue reading →

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Bezos Paid a ‘Friendship Premium’ for the Washington Post

"The founder of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) plunked down $250 million for the Post newspaper division, about 17 times adjusted profit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That multiple implies a valuation for the New York Times of about $4 billion -- more than double its current market value. The value of newspapers has been cratering since Rupert Murdoch paid $5.2 billion for Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. six years ago. The New York Times, the last major U.S. family-owned newspaper, has seen its market value fall 50 percent to $1.8 billion as print advertising dropped and readers migrated to the Internet for news." Continue reading →

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10 Awesome Startups That Are Looking To Profit From A New Space Race

"In recent years, some of the most famous names in tech, like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have been founding and investing in companies that are looking to the stars. Whether for personal dreams of adventure or for profit, these companies are doing the engineering and basic science needed to get humans into space. They're also looking at other opportunities that space provides, like access to resources that are hard to get on Earth and the ability to collect information about our planet from a different perspective." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Block Time Halved To Five Minutes Amid Exponential Network Growth

"By now, bitcoin enthusiasts and professionals alike are aware of the tremendous growth of the bitcoin network so far this year. As millions of dollars (and bitcoin) are invested in increasingly powerful mining equipment, the cumulative hash rate of the network has continually blown by the periodic difficulty adjustments. Earlier this year we explained the long-term implications of this, but the near term effects are being felt as well. Since that piece was published, the network has continued to grow, as has the growth rate. The average time between blocks has fallen to approximately five minutes on average, half the time bitcoin was originally programmed for." Continue reading →

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Stormy Weather in U.S. Cloud Computing

"A report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) estimated that if U.S. cloud providers were to lose 10-20% of foreign business, it would cost them anywhere from $21.5-35 billion over the next three years. But their losses present a big opportunity for European and Asian companies to pick up the slack from the growing global cloud market. A market that’s forecast to be worth $148.8 billion in 2014… $160 billion in 2015… and $207 billion in 2016. Artmotion, Switzerland’s largest offshore hosting company, has already scooped up a big portion of the leftovers. Since the Snowden leaks, its revenue has bounced 45% higher." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Goes to Washington

"The Committee understands that Bitcoins and other forms of peer-to-peer digital currency are a potential means for criminal, terrorist or other illegal organizations and individuals to illegally launder and transfer money. News reports indicate that Bitcoins may have been used to help finance the flight and activity of fugitives. The Committee directs the FBI to provide a briefing on the nature and scale of the risk posed by such ersatz currency, both in financing illegal enterprises and in undermining financial institutions. The briefing should describe the FBI efforts in the context of a coordinated Federal response to this challenge." Continue reading →

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India raises import duty on gold, silver to 10 per cent

"India hiked import duty on refined gold bars for a third time in eight months to 10 per cent from the earlier 8 per cent, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The government also raised the import duty on silver to 10 per cent from the earlier 6 per cent, and the factory gate duty on gold bars to 9 per cent from 7 per cent. India, the world's biggest buyer of gold, has been trying to curb imports of the yellow metal, which is the second biggest imported item after crude oil. On July 22, the RBI required a fifth of all gold imports to be used for export, usually in the form of jewellery." Continue reading →

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The Taper Trap

"The big question these days is this: 'When will the Federal Reserve System start to taper off its purchases of U.S.Treasury debt and Fannie/Freddie debt?' The commonly held view is next month. A Reuter’s reporter went up to David Kotok’s annual gathering at Leen Lodge in Maine. He brings in 50 or so big names in the investment world. They can chat with each other. There are formal presentations. She asked several of them when the FED will taper. The answer was unified: not soon. Pippa Malmgren said it best: if the FED moves from buying 75% of the Treasuries issued this year to selling them, the market will react violently." Continue reading →

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A Recovery Where You’d Least Expect It

"It was three years ago that Peter first made the case for Dubai. The economy then was 'in tatters and investors’ dreams in shreds. Remember the cartoons of heavily indebted Arabs begging for money? It was not so far from the truth. Dubai real estate had fallen 60% from the peak, and the stock market was a disaster area.' Those are, of course, the times to pay attention. It was during such time that Peter advised building positions in Dubai stocks for the inevitable recovery. This year, patience paid off. Dubai’s stock market is up 63% for the year. But it is still 75% off its high and a compelling bargain on the numbers." Continue reading →

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