weekend notes

Hope all goes well… “Obama’s a bad trader, simple as that,” explained the political insider, breezing through Santa Barbara. “He adds and adds to losing positions, trades without stops.” Apparently, Summers was never ever going to get the votes he needed. And no votes equals no confirmation. Then we moved on to matters of political intrigue, Yellen, exit options, timetables, the difficulty in trad

Hope all goes well… Back from the bush. With all sorts of wild animal tales. You know, they have the most wonderful collective names for beasts in Kruger Park. Of course, there’s a pride of lions; a parade of elephants. Dazzle of zebra. Parliament of wise old owls. A kettle of vultures, circling upward like steam. Crash of rhino. Leap of leopards. An obstinacy of buffalo; back away slowly ma

Hope all goes well… “So what did you think of Cape Town Mr. Peters?” asked Emraan, my driver, extra early, whisking me off to the airport. We’d spent two-days together, zipping from meeting to meeting, sneaking off to see mountains, beaches, seals, his son’s school. And naturally, I’d ferried out to Mandela’s jail cell. District 6’s desolation. But one stop remained. “It’s like Santa Barbara with

Hope all goes well… “Got two words for you mate – Burning Man,” he said hoarsely, returning from Nevada’s wild spectacle. “But dressed as a unicorn with a belly-full of mushrooms, I couldn’t quite coax a single bird back to my camper,” continued one of the most talented speculators I’ve known, with a unique knack for getting the long-term right. “And as mind-expanding as things were out in t

Hope all goes well. “I need a messy war in Syria, a $20 spike in oil, and new highs in stocks,” he said, punch drunk, knowing the near impossibility of that combo. But it’s been a long summer. And guys who stuck around to fight, got beaten badly in June, as stocks and bonds both fell; the risk-parity bubble punctured. Pop! Then again in July/Aug as gold rallied. While the Dollar surged vs the Real

Hope all goes well. Summer’s over. Back to School Monday’s upon us, in sunny Santa Barbara. Dusted off an Anecdote from a dreary 2010 Autumn. See you next Sunday with full weekend notes. All the best, Eric Week-in-Review: Mon: Chinese new home prices +7.5%, China to expand broadband network, Japan Jul exports +12.2% (Jun +7.4%) imports +19.6% (prev 11.8%) trade deficit Y1trln, Brazil buys more dol

Hope all goes well. Dug up an anecdote from a sunny Santa Barbara summer. Back in 2011. See you again in September, with full weekend notes. Best regards, Eric Week-in-Review: Mon: Japan Q2 GDP 2.6% (Q1 3.8%), Der Spiegel “Greece will need more aid after German election,” Mexico’s Nieto to open oil industry, S&P -0.1%; Tue: Japan machine orders -2.7%, Abe calls for lower corp

Hope all goes well. Dusted off an Anecdote from my year at altitude, in the Alps. 1998. See below. Be back in Sept with full wknd notes. All the best, Eric Week-in-Review: Mon: China service PMI 54.1 (first acceleration since March), Japan service PMI 50.6 (prev 52.1), Aussie retail sales weak, Iran’s Rohani pledges moderation, EU composite PMI 50.5 (first >50 since Jan 2012), EU retail s

Hope all goes well. Taking August off from writing. But figured, with over 4yrs of archived Anecdotes, it’d be fun to dust off a few favorites. Blasts from the past. You’ll find this week’s flashback down below. Best regards, Eric Week-in-Review: Mon: China to audit gov’t debt levels, China June industrial profits +6.3% yoy (May +15.5%), Japan retail sales -0.2% (+0.8% exp), Der Spiegel says Germa