Market Structure Insights

December 2, 2015

I looked back at what we wrote Dec 2, 2008. It was two weeks before Madoff (pronounced “made off” we’d observed bemusedly) became synonymous with fraud. Markets were approaching ramming speed into the Mar 2009 financial-crisis nadir. In that environment on this date then, we...

November 25, 2015

A war of words is unfolding in our profession. In case you’ve not followed, it’s about the market for the product you manage as investor-relations officers. Many of you have read Flash Boys, Michael Lewis’s (The Big Short is soon coming to movie screens) engaging...

November 18, 2015

If the stock market reflects all information currently known, why are buyout deals nearly always done at a premium to market price? “Because, Quast, deals involve proprietary pricing models that account for synergies.” Sure. But I want you to think about prices. The Wall Street...

November 11, 2015

Algorithmic trading is Wall Street’s last best hope. So said the lead sentence in a story called Algo Wars in the May 30, 2005 edition of Investment Dealer’s Digest. That publication is gone and so is Lehman Brothers, co-leader of program-trading at the NYSE in...

November 4, 2015

Why are stocks rising if earnings and revenues are falling? FactSet’s latest Earnings Insight with 70% of the S&P 500 reporting says earnings are down 2.2% versus the third quarter last year, revenues off 2.9%.  Yardeni Reseach Inc. shows a massive stock-disconnect with global growth....

October 28, 2015

I debated high-frequency trader Remco Lenterman on market structure for two hours. Legendary financial writer Kate Welling (longtime Barron’s managing editor) moderated.  Your executives should be reading Kate so propose to your CFO or CEO that you get a subscription to wellingonwallstreet.com. The blow-by-blow with...

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