After a terrible 1990s (Bulls won 9 years to 1) the Bears scored a rare trifecta in 2000-02, with the New York stock market down in each of the three years. Since then, Bear life has been less satisfactory, but on the decade so far, counting 2006 as a Bull victory, the Bears lead 4-3 […]

The World Bank gave the developing world an unexpected Christmas present Wednesday, when it unveiled its annual “Global Economic Prospects” report, looked out to 2030 and projected a higher developing country growth rate than in 1980-2005 and a huge emerging Third World middle class. Since it’s the job of the Bear’s Lair to deflate unwarranted […]

In spite of Fannie Mae’s $7.9 billion earnings write-off for the years to 2004, and failure to provide accounts for the last 7 quarters, the stock is substantially up during 2006, and analysts are mostly recommending it. This reflects a particularly counterproductive habit of financial analysts and economic commentators: they assume that the future will […]

The Financial Times Thursday suggested that private equity might increasingly dominate the world’s capital markets, because it enabled a tighter rein to be kept on company management, and thus ensured better governance in the interests of shareholders. That’s why private equity values for companies are higher than public market values, according to the FT. If […]