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Americas largest underground coal miner is headed for bankruptcy

Murray Energy didn’t make interest payments due yesterday

Murray Energy didn't make interest payments due yesterday
Coal isn’t back.
Murray Energy was granted extensions to renegotiate debt deals but they appear to have come up empty. Bloomberg reports that the company failed to make an interest payment due yesterday.
The failure of this company highlights the limited power of even the President of the United States in battling against economic forces. Many coal companies have already filed for bankruptcy, although none as big as Murray. The company employs nearly 7000 people and the largest underground coal miner in the United States.

My Time at Lehman

I started at Lehman Brothers on June 1st, 2007 as a first year analyst. It was my first job out of college. Dick Fuld, the CEO at the time, publicly discussed “the road to two-hundred,” in which he would not retire until the stock reached $200 per share, almost three times the price when I arrived. Everyone at the firm believed this as though it were a fact – that there was something special about Lehman Brothers stock – it always went up.

I joined Lehman for a few reasons. The first was personal. My mother worked on Wall Street and passed away when I was a teenager. I felt, somewhat misguidedly, as though following in her footsteps would bring me closer to her. The other reasons were simpler. I had been interested in the stock market as a kid (though I went to work trading bonds and credit derivatives), I wanted to make good money, and I thought maybe, just maybe, it would be a bit of fun. (more…)

17th Century Rules of Speculation

While much of these thoughts are outdated, it’s always a good idea to have a foundation of the first rules of speculation. Number 4 is dead on that you need to trade with money you don’t need and the patience to allow the trade to work out or not work.

What is a goblin treasure btw?

Rules of Speculation

  1. Never advise anyone to buy/sell shares. Where guessing correctly is a form of witchcraft, council cannot be put on airs.
  2. Accept both your profits and regrets. It is best to seize what comes to hand when it comes, and not expect that your good fortune and the favorable circumstances will last.
  3. Profit in the share market is goblin treasure: at one moment it is carbuncles, the next it is coal, one moment diamonds, and the next pebbles. Sometimes, they are the tears that Aurora leaves on the sweet morning’s grass, at other times, they are just tears.
  4. He who wishes to become rich from this game much have both money and patience.

Note: these rules are from “Confusion of Confusions” by Jose de la Vega in the year 1688. Vega was a successful merchant, poet, and philanthropist residing in the 17th century Amsterdam. This book represents the oldest known hints of technical analysis and his accounts of the Dutch markets in the 17th century.

17th Century Rules of Speculation

Rules of Speculation

  1. Never advise anyone to buy/sell shares. Where guessing correctly is a form of witchcraft, council cannot be put on airs.
  2. Accept both your profits and regrets. It is best to seize what comes to hand when it comes, and not expect that your good fortune and the favorable circumstances will last.
  3. Profit in the share market is goblin treasure: at one moment it is carbuncles, the next it is coal, one moment diamonds, and the next pebbles. Sometimes, they are the tears that Aurora leaves on the sweet morning’s grass, at other times, they are just tears.
  4. He who wishes to become rich from this game much have both money and patience.

Note: these rules are from “Confusion of Confusions” by Jose de la Vega in the year 1688. Vega was a successful merchant, poet, and philanthropist residing in the 17th century Amsterdam. This book represents the oldest known hints of technical analysis and his accounts of the Dutch markets in the 17th century.

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