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Sticking to the themes of the future covered yesterday, I wrote a white paper on the future of trading recently. Here's a short abstract: Lee Nixon opened his eyes as the room’s walls illuminated to intensity level 4. The walls were set to brighten gradually from 1:45 a.m. and it was now 2:00. Another fifteen…

I was trying to think about what life would be like in fifty years. This was prompted by the imminent launch of Virgin Galactic. My guess is that space flight will be commonplace within fifty years. The reason I say this is that my parents thought it phantasmagorical for people to be able to fly…

The world of UK banking is expected to be shaken, not stirred, later this week when the Royal Bank of Scotland announces the worst results in UK banking history with a £1 billion loss for the first six months of 2008.    This follows similar bad news from Northern Rock (£585 million/$1.6 billion loss), Lloyds TSB (profits down…

The world of UK banking is expected to be shaken, not stirred, later this week when the Royal Bank of Scotland announces the worst results in UK banking history with a £1 billion loss for the first six months of 2008.    This follows similar bad news from Northern Rock (£585 million/$1.6 billion loss), Lloyds TSB (profits down…

The world of UK banking is expected to be shaken, not stirred, later this week when the Royal Bank of Scotland announces the worst results in UK banking history with a £1 billion loss for the first six months of 2008.    This follows similar bad news from Northern Rock (£585 million/$1.6 billion loss), Lloyds TSB (profits down…

The BBC reports today that Microsoft is planning to create a whole new operating system called Midori, which is being developed because "Windows is unlikely to be able to cope with the pace of change in future technology and the way people use it."  Hence, Midori is being created as an operating system focused upon…

The BBC reports today that Microsoft is planning to create a whole new operating system called Midori, which is being developed because "Windows is unlikely to be able to cope with the pace of change in future technology and the way people use it."  Hence, Midori is being created as an operating system focused upon…

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is so nice to us that they even provide a dynamic mapping capability for subprime mortgages.  Here’s the map of the ones that are in foreclosure: Isn’t that nice of them …

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is so nice to us that they even provide a dynamic mapping capability for subprime mortgages.  Here’s the map of the ones that are in foreclosure: Isn’t that nice of them …

Yesterday’s post prompted me to revisit the part of the BBC’s website with the credit loss timeline to see where we stand today. According to the various announcements, this is the latest list of consolidated subprime losses: Citigroup: $40.7bnUBS: $38bnMerrill Lynch: $31.7bnHSBC: $15.6bnBank of America: $14.9bnMorgan Stanley $12.6bnRoyal Bank of Scotland: $12bnJP Morgan Chase: $9.7bnWashington…