Biz Dev in NYC by Rob Tsai

Buffett’s decision this week to launch his own bond insurer drove shares of MBIA down even further, as reported by the WSJ and theStreet.com on Friday.

Buffett probably had ample opportunity to step in and buy MBIA or Ambac with his $45 billion war chest (less $4.5 billion for his purchase of Marmon?), but decided […]

Here’s a fun quiz from Barron’s in this week’s issue.  The winner gets a free subscription and lunch with editor Andrew Bary in New York:
1. Which U.S. equity index will fare best in 2008?A. Dow Jones Industrials B. S&P 500 C. Nasdaq D. Russell 2000
I’m going with the Nasdaq (C).    
 
2. Which market will perform best? […]

Peter Lynch, of Fidelity fame, counseled in his classic book One Up On Wall Street to “buy what you know.”  
Over beers and burgers at the Spotted Pig last night with an Emerging Markets structured products friend of mine, we both laughed at ourselves for missing opportunities that were staring us in the face.
If only […]

Paul Kedrosky has a nice table on the recent $23 billion infusion by Asian/Middle East sovereign funds in the U.S. banking system:

Buffett confirmed on CNBC today that he’s been indirectly solicited by several financial institutions to help shore up their balance sheets, but he passed on those deals.   
Well, Buffett pulled the trigger, on […]

My friend and former colleage Ron Feldman publicly launched his service today.   It’s called Kwiry - and it allows you to text any message to K-W-I-R-Y (59469) - which you can then retrieve later to see all the things you wish you had done but forgot to do.
So all those great things you want to […]