Month: November 2008

  • ASIC Lifts Ban on Covered Short Selling

    From today covered short selling of non-financial stocks is allowed again on Australian stock markets. Obviously if you are a short seller you’ve known this for a week. What does it mean to us? The disclosure and reporting details are in this Market Advice. Australian Securities and Investments Commission – Requirements for disclosure and reporting…

  • Calculate the Beta Coefficient of a stock

    As part of the Corporate Finance subject of my MBA we have to calculate the beta coefficient (aka Beta) of a company’s share price. The is applied economics and market mathematics, but it simply is a number which indicates how closely (or not) a company’s share price moves in relation to a broader market (or…

  • Porsche Fleece Hedge Funds for 12 Billion Euro in Volkswagen Sting

    Porsche There is No Substitute! The background: In September 2005 Porsche bought 20% of its larger but less profitable German rival Volkswagen. In March 2007 Porsche bought another 19.9% (to 39.9%) and launched a takeover bid. In October 2007 the law preventing the takeover of Volkswagen was scrapped. On 20 October 2008 Volkswagen’s share price…

  • Credit Crisis Explained

    A number of people have asked me if there is a simple explanation of the financial crisis. It is difficult to give a simple explanation that doesn’t paint the exclusive cause as naive greed. The credit crisis is one contributing factor to the financial crisis (I see these as two different issues). I see four…