[QUOTE=ewmayer;329953]I mangle Latin, too - "Romanus eunt domus" all the way, baby!

------------------------------------

On the "tales of stealth inflation" front:

[url=www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/17/us-beam-makersmark-idUSBRE91G0EM20130217?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews]Maker's Mark reverses decision to lower alcohol content[/url]: [i](Reuters) - Maker's Mark said it was taking back a decision to reduce the alcohol content in its bourbon because of a large number of complaints from customers.[/i][/QUOTE]I hadn't realised that Maker's Muck was under threat. I can't say that I drink a lot of it, a bottle a year at most, but I would have complained as well had I known.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;329995]Visitors to SoCal may have encountered a doubled-Spanish version of the same effect:[/QUOTE]The [I][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Los Angeles[/FONT][/I] Angels of Anaheim?

Try this one on your bilingual friend:
Reach into your pocket, take out your keys. Hold one between the thumb and first finger of one hand. Point at it with the other index finger. Utter the following in your best Spanish mangling accent "Llave, aquí." Keep repeating and pointing at it (while saying the last word) until they begin to laugh.

Somewhat off topic...
 

Somewhat off topic...

So, Barbados had general elections today. The polls closed at 1800 local time.

I turn on my TV (which I don't often do) at 1820 and tuned to the local (government controlled) CBC (Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation) station (108) to watch the results.

What do I find? "Days of our Lives". A soup opera with a bunch of white people having issues...

Sigh....

Stuff Investments in a Mattress?
 

The following article indicates that bonds may take a tumble.....

[url]http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/22/bonds-riskier-than-stocks-interest-rates-yields-bubble/[/url]


With sequestration about to hit (any guesses what it will do to equities? nudge nudge..... :smile:)

And bonds about to take a fall........

perhaps we should stuff everything under the bed.

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;330470]The following article indicates that bonds may take a tumble.....

[url]http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/22/bonds-riskier-than-stocks-interest-rates-yields-bubble/[/url]


With sequestration about to hit (any guesses what it will do to equities? nudge nudge..... :smile:)

And bonds about to take a fall........

perhaps we should stuff everything under the bed.[/QUOTE]Ever tried sleeping on gold bricks? Very uncomfortable, or so I'm told.

[url="http://www.philsoc.org/2011Fall/2292transcript.html"]An extremely rare technical talk on high frequency trading[/url]

[QUOTE=jasonp;331080][url="http://www.philsoc.org/2011Fall/2292transcript.html"]An extremely rare technical talk on high frequency trading[/url][/QUOTE]

HFT seems to be illegal under existing insider trading laws.

If a company is going to announce something that will affect
the price of its stock and I know about it ahead of time, I can't
trade on the information until it becomes public [b]AND[/b] the
market has time to absorb the information. If the announcement
comes at noon tomorrow, I can't place a buy order at 12:01 because
there hasn't been enough time for the market to absorb the news
even though technically I waited to act until after the announcement.

When a company places a large order and then cancels it in milliseconds
or less, the market does not have the time to ABSORB the information.
(i.e. the placement of a large order can affect stock price). Cancelling
an order very quickly, before the market has time to absorb the info
seems to violate insider trading law.

Opinions?

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;331094]HFT seems to be illegal under existing insider trading laws.

If a company is going to announce something that will affect
the price of its stock and I know about it ahead of time, I can't
trade on the information until it becomes public [b]AND[/b] the
market has time to absorb the information. If the announcement
comes at noon tomorrow, I can't place a buy order at 12:01 because
there hasn't been enough time for the market to absorb the news
even though technically I waited to act until after the announcement.

When a company places a large order and then cancels it in milliseconds
or less, the market does not have the time to ABSORB the information.
(i.e. the placement of a large order can affect stock price). Cancelling
an order very quickly, before the market has time to absorb the info
seems to violate insider trading law.

Opinions?[/QUOTE]Your analysis makes sense to me. But, there again, IANAL.

My gut reaction is that there is no well-defined (i.e. enforceable) definition of "enough time for the market to absorb the news".

[QUOTE=jasonp;331080][url="http://www.philsoc.org/2011Fall/2292transcript.html"]An extremely rare technical talk on high frequency trading[/url][/QUOTE]

Anyone want to guess where a large number of GPUs are deployed?

Umm so do we have a ppt or something of this talk? Sounds interesting though I am not sure how accurate the views of a non-practitioner would be. You have to remember that all HFT firms are extremely tight-lipped about what they do because to not do so would give up competitive advantage.

@ Bob Silverman: Apart from the debate over the definition of "enough time for the market to absorb the news", the more material issue in my opinion is one of fairness. Or rather equal opportunity. Does someone have exclusive rights over sending orders before anyone else? If not, and the only barrier is the vast amount of money and technical know-how required to become a player in HFT, then the playing field is level enough for the SEC to not take any action against HFT.

Now if we talk about a transaction tax, say even 0.01% then you will see a LOT of HFT firms go out of business.

Finally, 12:01??? [B]AYFKM[/B]?? If the news is out at 12:00, you can be pretty sure there are orders out at 12:00:00.020.