Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
International Beer Day
Beer has its own international day and it’s on August 5. International Beer Day was started back in 2007 as a way to celebrate with friends and give back to the brewers and bartenders around the world supplying beer lovers with hoppy goodness.
With 334 celebrations in 46 countries this seems to have built a following. Plus, it’s a great excuse to open your backyard and celebrate all things beer. It’s also a good reason to make Monday, August 6, International Hangover Day.
High Frequency Trading Gone Bad
It’s back in the news in a big way this week. That’s HFT or high frequency trading. Knight Capital Group, a publicly traded company, lost $440 million in 45 minutes thanks to a “computer glitch.” I like how Wall Street and the press throws around “computer glitch” like their Windows OS locked up again and it just needs to be restarted.
The glitch worked so efficiently, it nearly destroyed the company. It will once again bring calls for tighter regulation on this type of trading. The worry is how much this will sour the average joe investor’s already shaky view of the stock market.
One bright spot, it will at least push other firms to test, retest and test again their systems, algorithms and programmers to make sure this doesn’t happen to them. Unfortunately it came at a big cost.
Knight Capital Group shareholders got pummeled. In a matter of two days, the stock dropped from $10.33 on Wednesday’s open to $2.58 on Thursday’s close. And it’s still falling and at risk of bankruptcy.
Last Call
- Strong and Fast Markets, but No Time to Think – A great article covering the Knight Capital debacle, how the markets have changed over the years, and possible recourse.
- Cult Figures – The second biggest news event this week is awarded to Bill “Bond King” Gross and his claim that stocks are dead. I don’t buy it as anything but a PR piece to drum up business for Pimco, but worth the read anyway.
- Stocks are Dead! A “Gross” Mistake if You get Suckered in this Gloomy Forecast – One of the best replies to the Bill Gross article above.
- The Shocking Truth About Growth Investors – a good view of growth investing from a value investors standpoint. Includes what to look for, measure, and how to put the info together.
- Khan Academy – I heard about Khan Academy this week and spent some time browsing the site. It’s a huge repository of educational videos. Mostly of math and science but a good-sized section on finance and economics. And it’s free.
