lift all the offers's Profile
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Entry: Citi To Make Working At Citi Even Less Appealing?
posted by lift all the offers
May 19, 2008 4:23PM
Doesn't sleeping require less oxygen than being awake? If more of their traders slept at their desks, maybe Citi could capture some of the excess oxygen and sell it.
Entry: Opening Bell: 5.20.08
posted by lift all the offers
May 20, 2008 10:05AM
Gladwell is for all the people out there who aren't smart enough to read Taleb.
Entry: Is Progress For Women On Wall Street Hopeless?
posted by lift all the offers
May 21, 2008 11:18AM
@10:53, I agree. I've worked with Math majors who obsess about writing white papers and engineers who know just about every numerical method to approximate the unsolvable. I've even worked with a Math PhD who had trouble learning Excel after years of Matlab.
I'll take someone who can approximately solve Navier-Stokes over someone who can talk about differentiable manifolds any day.
Having said all that, I have an MS in Stats and prefer that over both.
Entry: Severance Watch '08: Bear Stearns
posted by lift all the offers
Jun 02, 2008 11:27AM
Sure, but it's only a break if you find meaningful employment on the other side.
Entry: Why Did This Citigroup Trader Go To Jail?
posted by lift all the offers
Jun 02, 2008 12:28PM
@11:50, amen brother.
Entry: Layoffs Watch 2007-2008: The Total Damage So Far
posted by lift all the offers
Jun 02, 2008 3:12PM
Things I no longer believe in: Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, and US govt employment, deficit, CPI, and GDP stats.
Also, don't believe that there is anyone in Florida who run an election correctly, but saving that for another blog.
Entry: Morgan Stanley Rogue Trader Lost $120 Million
posted by lift all the offers
Jun 20, 2008 9:39AM
Right ... trader marking his own book. Really super idea.
Better hope he doesn't end up like Craig Gile.
Entry: Vikram Pandit: "We can make Citi the best company in the world, bar none."
posted by lift all the offers
Jun 30, 2008 11:01AM
Hey, what happened to that NYMEX trader that was caught sleeping and got his picture posted on DB?
Is he still a steward of the Citi brand?
Entry: Is It? Someone Call Buffett, He's Got To Know
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 01, 2008 10:34AM
It's a race to the bottom, CNBC vs. Fox Business.
My money is on Fox.
Entry: Credit Crisis Math: Report Sees $1.5 Trillion In Losses
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 07, 2008 9:28AM
What we need is a new bubble to re-inflate the economy. How about alternative energy? Solar, wind, and geothermal are wonderously speculative. With the right amount of production tax credits, we can do it!
Entry: Credit Crisis Math: Report Sees $1.5 Trillion In Losses
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 07, 2008 12:39PM
Speaking of commodities, why is it that Platts has barred Lehman from trading in the daily price-setting window for crude and oil products?
Entry: Hedge Fund Coin Flipping
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 23, 2008 1:55PM
If I were applying, I'd be reading up on Bernoulli trials and practice some of the calculations you'd expect from the experimental data.
Specifically:
expected # of runs => R is 25 * (.5) ^ R
longest expected run is log2 (25)
Entry: Hedge Fund Coin Flipping
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 23, 2008 3:01PM
The Law of Large Numbers applies here. The ratio of heads / total flips approaches 0.5 (fair coin) as the number of flips increases. But the difference between the number of heads and tails increases. Consider 20 flips with 11 heads and 9 tails for a ratio of 0.55. Now consider 20000 flips with 10010 heads and 9990 tails for a ratio of 0.5005. The difference increases proportionally with the square root of the number of flips.
Entry: Lehman To Sell Neuberger?
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 25, 2008 10:39AM
He should sell the eyebrow. Maniacal geniuses everywhere would bid on it.
Entry: Investment Banking Discount Window Will Remain Open Until 2009, At Least
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 30, 2008 11:13AM
Congratulations, the US has now officially become Japan circa 1993.
Entry: Investment Banking Discount Window Will Remain Open Until 2009, At Least
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 30, 2008 12:11PM
Why the hell is it that the US Govt only seems to care about banks' counterparty risk? I don't remember anyone demanding an Enron bailout.
Entry: Investment Banking Discount Window Will Remain Open Until 2009, At Least
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 30, 2008 12:14PM
Or how about Refco and their $500M in phony notes. Why didn't they get propped up?
Entry: Investment Banking Discount Window Will Remain Open Until 2009, At Least
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 30, 2008 1:03PM
@23 Ever heard of Enron Online? Enron acted as market maker and not a broker. At its peak, Enron Online was handling over $4B in notional volume per day.
I was trading energy when Enron collapsed and it was ugly.
Entry: Investment Banking Discount Window Will Remain Open Until 2009, At Least
posted by lift all the offers
Jul 30, 2008 2:00PM
@29 No, not to my knowledge.
I'm not arguing that Enron or Refco deserved a bailout, rather that counterparty risk is everywhere and the current crisis isn't a special case.
Entry: Nothing Can Bring This Man Down
posted by lift all the offers
May 16, 2008 10:57AM
He's wide awake, unlike the NYMEX traders who work for him.