market-economics

Thau provides a good, thorough overview of bonds from beginning to end, including what you need to know about "bond math." I came to this book as someone both interested and invested in the stock market and I wanted to expand my knowledge to include other types of investments. The Bond Book definitely served my purpose. I recommend it to any beginner or novice investor looking to learn more about the nuances and varieties of fixed-income securities.

This book can help you make money. How? It reviews the history of spreads between Treasuries and Municipals, between Treasuries and Junk bonds, and between Treasuries and other types of bonds/securities. By buying the appropriate security when the spread is abnormally large by a wide margin, which admittedly may only occur once every ten years or so, I believe one could make a ton of money. An example would be to buy junk bonds when the spread between junk and treasuries exceeds 1200 basis points. Another example would be to buy municipals if their yield surpasses the treasury benchmark. Patience will be required, though, since, as the author points out, it is tough to make a killing in the bond market all the time (i.e. the market is usually highly efficient).

The author also does a terrific job pointing out the different types of risk (reinvestment, inflation, currency, interest rates, credit, etc.) for all the different types of securities and duration of securities. She then tells you how to select a security appropriate for your needs given the risks. For example, if you don't want to worry about a rise in rates destroying the value of your bond, buy one that you can hold to maturity and collect at par. Better yet, buy one with a short duration.

In conclusion, any well rounded financier needs to know about bonds--even Warren Buffet--the famous "stock picker"--invests a ton in bonds. This book is a great start to earning this skill.

This is a clear, thorough, comprehensive look at the world of bonds, starting with some general explanations and then going through each major category of bond in turn. The only problem is that the book is getting old and some of the examples and explanations are based on market conditions that no longer exist. However, the book is excellent and certainly stands the test of time.

I've always considered Parkinson's Law to be the chief weapon of inept managers who "schedule aggressively" in an attempt to squeeze blood from stones, and thus compromise their project's effeciency, morale, and the like. After reading this book I've discovered that Parkinson's Law is *not* the often misquoted "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" but (paraphrasing:) "the number of administrators in an organization will grow at a steady rate irrespective of the amount of work that organization needs to do." Not only does Parkinson never suggest that we should "schedule aggressively" (he never suggests that work can contract indefinitely no matter how little time is made available), he ridiculues nice offices, large meetings, top-heavy management, insecure leadership, penny-wiseness and pound-foolishness, typical hiring practices, and more.

While reading most of this book I had a wry grin on my face, and I laughed loud belly laughs at a couple of points. My only complaints stem from the last two chapters, which indulged in both racism and ageism, respectively. I only skimmed those. Still, an enjoyable and motivational read, and useful knowledge when confronted by a manager who thinks of themself as Parkinsonian but hasn't actually read (or understood) Parkinson.

Parkinson's Law briefly stated is that 'work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.' If it doesn't seem that an entire book could be written about this thesis then you haven't encountered the imaginative genius and the stinging comic wit of C. Northcote Parkinson. He is able to use this little insight as an analytic tool to expose much of what is wrong with organizations and why much in both business and government seems at odds with common sense. For example, why the British Colonial Office has grown in number of employees as the actual number of colonies declined - so that it employed more people when the number of colonies had been reduced to zero than when they were at their highest number. Witty, brilliant and always right on the money, Parkinson can make what should be deadly dull - a description of bureaucracy - into a delightful excursion through the halls of pompus human folly. Really great stuff. This book is a classic and can be read and reread with great pleasure.

Hi,

This is one of the best and most valuable books (with balls) I ever read, about the only things that matters in the live of the adult - I mean your freedom.

Learn how government evolves to the killing machine (I experience that) or why you must fight with the all nonsense bureaucracy.

It just shows the fundamental mechanisms and threats you found and will find in your contacts with bureaucratics machine.

Not only worth of reading - read it and advertise to all you care about...

Like even more fun? (and rage) - read "The adventures of Jonathan Gullible" by Ken Schoolland. Then we'll can talk ;-)

The dualistic title of the book comes to refer to the nature of the roaring stock market of the 80's and 90's as well as what was being shoveled to fuel that market. The book may not break any new ground but does an excellent job pointing out how price increases fuel further speculation; driving up prices still further. As price and speculation feed upon itself there is tremendous pressure not to be left behind. Analysts are pressured not to say anything bad about a stock; the media is pressured to be cheerleaders and not fault-finders; and corporate executives find creative ways to make their companies more profitable than they really are. The result is a price bubble and when it bursts people get hurt.

Maggie Mahar, a financial journalist since 1982, writes a coherent study of how the bull market came to be, what fueled it, and what can investors do now. It is up-to-date book and truly enlightening. Much of the material has been covered in financial journals and newspapers but never in such a concise manner; and you'll soon discover many surprises that you probably didn't know about the bull market.

I finished Bull! in two days, and I enjoyed every page. The problem that I've had with most books on economic history or investing (and particularly those, such as this one, that include considerable economic detail) is that they are miserable to plow through, and are invariably filled with dry and seemingly superfluous detail. This book is different. Mahar mixes witty anecdotes with incisive analysis, and her claims about investing are offered in intelligent often playful prose, surrounded with a copious amount of recent historical material. Even well known stock-market figures--like Warren Buffet--look new here: we get a sense of why they acted as they did, and often a hint of what they may have been thinking. Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about investing, uncovering what the last bull run was all about, or meeting some of the major Wall Street players that were made into near-celebrities.

I read Bull! when it first came out, sometime last Fall, and I recently re-read it after I saw Warren Buffett recommended Bull! in the 2003 Berkshire Hathaway annual report. I enjoyed it even more the second time, and it has led me to rethink some of my investment plans for 2004.

Bull! does not pretend to predict the investment future (no book can do that, and everyone--including Buffett--has made, and will continue to make, some investment mistakes) but for any reader interested in an intelligent, historically sound account of the most recent bull run--and what it means for investing in the future--I suggest that you take a look at Bull!.

I am about halfway through this book, but so far I enjoyed Frank Partnoy's first book, "FIASCO: Blood in the Water on Wall Street", much better. FIASCO was mainly an auto-biographical account of Partnoy's career at Morgan Stanley. Writing about his own life afforded Partnoy the opportunity to be more anecdotal and humorous about his subject matter. In this book, his focus is on scandals that made the headlines, or even worse, were suppressed from greater public knowledge. (Enron, LTCM, Orange County, the Salomon Bros Treasury auction scandal, etc).

He recants these tales with tongue in cheek humor, and he translates finance-geek-speak into a language which people outside of the business can understand. However, in his Vernacular translation, he loses some of the wind of the real story. Maybe its because I am in the business, so no details need to be spared for my benefit, but I would have preferred reading more technical accounts.

At any rate, Partnoy is a crusader, out to teach the world about the dangers of financial products. Frankly, I think he goes to far in his ranting, and this book is merely a vehicle for him to advance his agenda of reform and regulation. Its true that some people have exploited the market for less than altruistic purposes, but the truth is that derivatives have been more beneficial than harmful to the global financial system. To tell the tale all of the evil in the financial markets without mentioning the good is misleading.

This book is an absolute must read if you want to understand Wall Street shenanigans. Partnoy has done a phenomenal job of demystifying the world of swaps, derivatives and other exotic financial instruments. Even better, he shows how investment banker antics have affected Main Street inhabitants including yourself. How did Orange County and so many other municipalities get so deeply in trouble? The author explains.

I have a Ph.D in business and many finance courses under my belt, but I never quite understood the systemic dangers of the 'financial innovation' that is sweeping our markets. Now that I have, I will sleep much less well at night.

Partnoy describes the evolution of exotic instruments and the characters involved in this evolution. How CS First Boston made securites of virtually any type of debt, Salomon pioneered the CMO and so on. He details the specific wrongdoings of companies like Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom. He shows you the enabling role played by gatekeepers like accounting firms, law firms, analysts and credit rating agencies.

Even more important, he shows you exactly how the collusion happened and why. He gives you both an aerial view of the markets and a down-in-the-trenches description. I often wondered why, in efficient markets, participants voluntarily involved themselves in such convoluted transactions that had high costs in terms of record-keeping and fees. The answer, as Partnoy shows, is that virtually all of these arrangements permit some set of parties to subvert law or regulation or both. This is true domestically and internationally.

He graphically describes how lobbying keeps regulators at bay and the venality and ineffectuality of politicians. The chairperson of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, for example, exempted important parts of Enron's business from regulation and, just weeks later, joined Enron' board. There are many such stories that show exactly how self-serving our legislators and regulatory guardians are.

My quibbles are minor. While Partnoy is clear, his language is colorless. Perhaps his legal background has something to do with this. Given the strength of his material and the depth of his research, he could have made this book a popular bestseller if he had used more forceful colloquial expression.

Also, he does not talk at all about the role of technology in this evolving mess. Greedy, incredibly smart bankers have always been with us. What has permitted them to have this huge impact now is the ability of computers to churn massive amounts of data, pick out the faintest of patterns and keep records of incredibly complex transactions involving dozens of parties over vast stretches of time.

This said, this is the best book I have yet come across that explains how and why large scale financial malfeasance happens. And why it is hardly ever punished. You will understand why the perpetrators of Enron, Global Crossing, Adelphia, WorldCom, Sunbeam and so many others will walk and hold on to their vast gains. Start praying that there is justice beyond our courts.

POSITIVE: In-dept overview of what happend in the last 15 years in "high finance". The authors knowledge on the topics can hardly be beaten. Author pretty harsh in critisicing Moodys, CDOs etc. Very interesting findings (e.g. trading profits at Enron, harsh treatment of Quattrone). The author provides some good solutions in the finance world at the end of the book.

NEGATIVE: Value creation, especially of derivatives, is not mentioned in the book. Thus, book rather critical. Book not as readable as FIASCO due to more difficult topics (and NOT authors fault).

This is the benchmark book on bonds and fixed income, it is very comprehensive and very reader-friendly. What I like about it is it covers everything. If I did not have this one book I would need 5 or 6 others instead. It covers bonds,pricing, duration, risk management, swaps, futurers, options, yield curve modelling, fund management, charting, and a whole lot more.As one endorsment says on the back: an encylopedia on bonds written like a thriller! Very good buy.

Anyone with an interest in debt capital markets will still be referring to this book many years after purchasing it.

This is an enclopaedic reference work on bonds and money markets, but written like a thriller. Oustanding work, great value and highly recommended to banker or student.

You want to know Elliott Wave theory better than you know the menu at McDonald's? This is the book to study. Figures, facts, rules, laws...it's all here. Don't expect the wisdom to come easily though. This is seriously hard stuff to absorb. If you do absorb it however, you'll KNOW the markets you follow and what they're doing intimately.

Actually I gave this book only four stars only because I subtracted a penalty star for bogus reviews. Really now...did whoever (the author?)think we wouldn't catch on? And in the future maybe they could at least put in something other than the endorsements on the back of the book.

I read many writings and books about Elliott Wave Theory, but this book is different. It gives you all information for applying it not the basic theory and waves. If you say "I cannot see the waves on graphs" read this book, and then start to use EW on your trades...

If you are looking for a general introduction to Elliott Wave theory and practice this book is not for you. I would suggest starting with Prechter's "Elliott Wave Principle" from 1979. If you are prepared to spend a lot of time working through the minutiae of the rules and conditions contained within this book, however, (especially using your own data) you will find this a most rewarding endeavour. Wave theory is not for the faint-hearted, it requires a lot of time and application to give you the building blocks to come up with a view of the market.

Just read "Beat the Millenium Crash." It's clear, concise, and contains numerous strategies for protecting your assets. Excellent discussions of stock market reactions to previous panics and interest rate trends and the patterns which affect most major markets. Downplays alarmist expectations while explaining what the average individual can do to both protect assets and profit in the event of a Y2K panic. Highly readable.

After reading Beat the Millennium Crash : How to Profit from the Coming Financial Crisis by Jake Bernstein, investors can begin to see the potential for gain rather than focusing on the problems associated with the Y2K bug. I agree with Mr. Bernstein in that we are due for a cyclical bottom in interest rates in the near future, and that a panic top in the stock market is certainly a possibility. The fear of investors losing access to their (online) investments, and thus their unrealized wealth for a period following the start of the new Millennium will certainly add fuel to this fire. This does not have to be a negative for investors willing to invest in long term gold stocks as Jake points out in this new text. Thanks Jake for breaking the mold of "Doom" and "Gloom" others seem to be so trapped in.

Extremely thorough on the subject matter. Easy reading but full of a wealth, (no pun intended), of information. A must "read" for everyone, even "non-investors". This cleared up any misconceptions and filled the cracks of all the "rhetoric". Thanks Jake - Todd

Joe Torre distills his management and "team player" philosophy into twelve keys. These insights elegantly deal with ways to inspire critical qualities, including trust, commitment, optimism, resilience, excellence, patience, integrity, respect, leadership, teamwork, and camaraderie. Torre illustrates his beliefs and advice with pertinent anecdotes told in a detailed, witty, heartfelt style. Torre, who has won four world series titles as manager of the New York Yankees, draws on his experiences as a player, manager, and leader. He includes the lessons he learned when he reported to a demanding team owner. The book delivers what it promises and offers an engaging behind-the-scenes look at professional baseball. We [...] recommend this book to executives, managers and employees at all levels in any kind of business. Since it never relies on macho clichés, both men and women will find it satisfying and worthwhile.

Coaches not only bring winning teams to victory, but they influence the team and individual to aspire to their highest potential. The art of coaching sculpts people into personal success with the clay of trust, encouragement, insight into individual psychology, and a thorough knowledge of the activity coached. Joe Torre, the manager of the New York Yankees baseball team who brought the players to championship at the World Series, weaves together these factors to show how business people can reach the same level of personal success. His wisdom applies to any activity that relies on an individual's extra push to succeed.
"How do you make it happen? As an individual, you work relentlessly on the fundamentals of the game-whatever you game may be," he notes in the book. The mechanics of the game or business lay the groundwork, but the variables of talent, interaction with coworkers, attitude and relationship skills count even more. "In order to build teamwork, you must acknowledge each individual's worth, letting him know that this role, no matter how seemingly minor, is a vital cog in the team's efforts," he writes.
In today's work environment, where getting to know fellow workers may be subordinate to getting the job done, and where the focus is on production rather than people, Torre's ground rules of knowing the people who work with and for you may seem radical. But, he says, they are essential.
His blend of common sense, experience and psychological insight make this book a productive and instructive use of time for managers or anyone wanting to succeed in business. He shows how the complexity of mind, emotion, heart and talent work together to build success, and he emphasizes the power of the mind and attitude on performance. The dreams and goals deep within the individual can win out, he insists. He encourages bravery and persistence to carry on in a world that can make it easy to douse the flame of a dream for the banality of safe routine. In the end, success in business and in life have meaning to the individual because of the struggle to get there. "(O)nly you know how many small triumphs and snarls went into that big victory, how many months, years, or decades of sweat and sorrow preceded that breakthrough. That's baseball, and that's life," he notes.
And that's Torre's attitude in a book worth reading.

I've only heard audio portions of this book so far and I've enjoyed it immensely. I'm a huge Yankee fan and I love the way Joe manages them - and George Steinbrenner for that matter; calm, clear, focused, patient. However, I just wanted to respond to Bill from NY, who said that Joe Torre can not write and that the book wasn't very "inciteful".
Note to Bill: buy a dictionary before you "right" off a review in haste.

"The most important event in the recent history of ideas is the demise of the socialist dream," begins Gilder's masterful moral defense of supply-side economics. No one makes the case for capitalism as compellingly as Gilder, because he refuses to apologize for entrepreneurs.

Why don't those left-wing-extremists realise their paternal holier-than-thou attitudes are what really are responsible for anyone remaining in poverty. They that actually do "care", owe it to those they profess to care about to find out whether or not their cherished nostrums do anything more than make themselves feel better. Those that see the light become conservative. It's that simple. It's that complex. Enjoy the book!

During the Reagan Revolution this modest, simply stated summary became the "little red book" for those who ascribe to the approach to economics that the fountain of progress, on all fronts, resides in the principal that money is best left in the hands of the entrepreneur, the individual citizen, who will ferret out opportunity in the most obscure and untapped parts of the economy; as opposed to those who ascribe to the Keynesian approach of taxation and redistribution of wealth. Unfortunately, the tag, supply side, was given to Gilder's insight. In reality Gilder describes a demand side approach to economics in which the individual becomes the bird dog, finding and investing in the new and often unknown demands that society needs to advance, as opposed to the demand stimulus coming from the unimaginative, and atavistic bureaucrats of the central government.

whose review is below. I cant believe that this reviewer believes that corporate "welfare" disproves the thesis of this book. How moronic can one be? The difference dear child is that corporations still are in business and trying to produce a profit. An individual on welfare does nothing to earn an income, or very little at most. Thus the incintive not to work. Corporate welfare is just as incidious in my book, but at least the corporation is trying to profit from as many revenue centers as it can.

I learned a lot from this book about how earnings momentum is used to buy and sell stocks. Basically, momentum investors are looking for impending earnings surprises of a certain quality.

The book then induces you to try out the Zacks online service and get their daily earnings updates and eletters like "Profit from the Pros". Don't do it. Signing up will unleash a torrent of spam from Zacks for many of their services. I have unsubscribed numerous times and even emailed their customer service department. They did respond but I still get the crap. Even worse, they gave my name to a marketing partner and now I get even more garbage.

I believe that combining the strategies discussed in this book with CANSLIM provides a very powerful approach.

Like O'Neil, Zacks bases his research on real data; this data has been collected by the Zacks Investment Company for 15+ years.

This book is filled with dozens of graphs to better explain the research. Just like the Zacks ranking system this book is largely focused on one of the few good things a market analyst can give you - earnings estimates.

I believe that in the upcoming years Ahead of the market will be a book that I will be referring back to since it is excellent. The research is practical and I believe is an interesting strategy.

In closing I just want to say that this is one of the books I have read which I found to be really good and have the potential to assist us in our investing endeavors.

Reed Floren

The path to superior returns in the stock market is to anticipate changes in investor expectations. The multi-million question is how to do that.

An investor needs to realize the market is made up of 2 broad groups: retail investors (little guys like you and me) and big insitutions (mutual funds, insurance companies, hedge funds, etc.).

Big institutions drive market movements. The people responsible for these market movements have the same professional training, and tend to think alike. They focus primarily on reports provided by the analysts at major brokerages.

Many novice retail investors look at an analyst recommendation and mistakenly believe it is profitable to act on it. This book demonstrates why this is the way to the poorhouse.

Even though analyst recommendations are worthless, analysts do provide very profitable info--if you know how to use it. If you look for changes in earnings estimates (upward or downward), you will be able to profitably anticipate the actions of the big guys--who typically chase after earnings momentum. A positive revision will typically send the stock higher for 1-3 months, making such stocks profitable long candidates for shorter-term traders. Likewise, negative earnings revisions are good short candidates.

Incorporate this fundamental framework with preferred technical screening, trade entry, and exit criteria, and you can develop a very reliable and profitable trading system regardless of market direction.

The book will also educate you on the pressures analysts are under to remain positive about a stock despite the fact fundamentals suggest the company is a poor investment. The situation will not change, despite government action to correct it, since there really isn't any incentive for major brokerage analysts to be honest. They have much more to lose than to gain by issuing more sell recommendations. The stock buyer should beware.