Jed Christiansen

He’s a rock legend. She’s a bluegrass star.

Together, they put together one hell of an album. Here’s one great video:

This article in the New York Times shows exactly how weak the economy has become:

In the market equivalent of shoveling cash under the mattress, hordes of buyers were so eager on Tuesday to park money in the world’s safest investment, United States government debt, that they agreed to accept a zero percent rate of return.

The news sent a sobering signal: in these troubled economic times, when people have lost vast amounts on stocks, bonds and real estate, making an investment that offers security but no gain is tantamount to coming out ahead.

[…]

Investors accepted the zero percent rate in the government’s auction Tuesday of $30 billion worth of short-term securities that mature in four weeks. Demand was so great even for no return that the government could have sold four times as much.

In addition, for a brief moment, investors were willing to take a small loss for holding another ultra-safe security, the already-issued three-month Treasury bill.

How Clare College is taking advantage of the economy

Clare College is the second-oldest College at Cambridge, having been founded nearly 700 years ago. One of the benefits of this kind of longevity is that banks are more able and willing to make loans to you.

From the student newspaper about a month ago (sorry, no link):

Clare College has borrowed £15 million to invest in the stock market. The unprecedented inflation-linked loan is due to be repaid in 2048 and the College expects to make a profit of around £36 million.

[…]

This is the first time Clare has borrowed to invest in its 700-year history. Hearn acknowledged that it was a potentially dangerous strategy, but said the forty-year time frame brought security.

“Most Colleges have a very long-term perspective, which gives them an advantage over city funds which often have a short term focus.”

Wow…

Both of these stories are just unprecedented. The economy truly is upside-down.

Are you a successful trader on the Hollywood Stock Exchange (aka HSX)?

Well, now you could potentially turn that expertise into cold, hard cash. Cantor Fitzgerald, the company that owns HSX, has announced a real-money equivalent, the Cantor Exchange. On it you’ll be able to trade “Movie Box Office Contracts.”

It was officially announced Monday, December 8th through press releases on the new CantorExchange website. To quote from the press releases:

Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., a leading global financial services firm, announced today that it has filed an application with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) to launch the Cantor Exchange. Cantor Exchange intends to list Domestic Box Office Receipt contracts as the exchange’s first traded product.

[…]

Subject to final regulatory approval of the Cantor Exchange application, Domestic Box Office Receipt contracts will offer film finance professionals and traders a new opportunity to hedge and speculate on the theatrical performance (ticket sales) of major film titles. Domestic Box Office Receipt contracts will be a next generation financial management tool that allows film professionals to hedge risk and provides speculative opportunities to other market participants based on the first four weeks of a film’s box office performance.

The first Domestic Box Office Receipt contract is expected to be listed on the Cantor Exchange in the first quarter of 2009, subject to final approval of the Cantor Exchange application by the CFTC.

If you’re willing to sit through the video’s cheesy music on the site, you’ll find out that traders can get started with $50 in their account. It appears they’re pitching the buy-side (generally) for fans looking to share in the up-side and pitching the sell-side (generally) for investors and others looking to hedge their investment.

Each contract starts with a week-long auction to determine the starting price. Every 24 hours the exchange will publish the overall market price that would be achieved based on all the buy and sell orders entered. Before going to continuous trading, all buy/sell orders will be cleared at the single best market price.

Summary

I think this is great news, as it starts to push the boundaries of acceptance of futures (aka “prediction”) markets. I wish Alex and the rest of the team there all the best luck in the approval process and look forward to trading a bit there myself!

It should be interesting to hear what the mainstream press thinks of this development.

… because Vampire Weekend started getting huge in the beginning of 2008. While I heard their music then, I recently listened to a few songs again and got really hooked all of a sudden. Their album is a really interesting, unique, solid piece of work. (Pop with African hooks and beats to use broad descriptive strokes.)

Here’s one of their hits: A-Punk

Oh, and they name-checked “Mystic Seaport” in one of their songs! I used to live in Mystic, just down the road from the Seaport, but never actually managed to get there.