Odd Lots
417 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★ - 614 ratingsBloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway analyze the weird patterns, the complex issues and the newest market crazes. Join the conversation every Monday and Thursday for interviews with the most interesting minds in finance, economics and markets.
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Episodes
Episode 16: Making Money When Everyone Else is Losing Theirs
February 22, 2016 16:24 - 23 minutesEverybody knows by now that a handful of hedge funders made a fortune by betting against housing before the market crashed back in 2008. But, people who bought at the bottom, when everyone else was panicking, also did extremely well. In the latest episode of Odd Lots we speak with Bloomberg Alastair Marsh, who discovered two traders who won big time by buying the most toxic assets in the world during the depths of the panic in early 2009. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.ihear...
How a Rural Irish Farmer Became an Expert on the Euro Crisis
February 16, 2016 16:13 - 30 minutesIn theory, anyone with an internet connection can became an expert on just about anything from just about anywhere. In the latest edition of Odd Lots, we speak with Lorcan Roche Kelly, a cattle farmer, and former explosives engineer in rural Ireland who decided in the early days of the euro crisis to figure out what the heck was going on with his nation's banks. Lorcan tells the story of how he went from a farm in Sixmilebridge, Ireland to advising hedge funds on what sovereign bonds they sho...
Episode 14: The World’s Only Stand-Up Economist
February 08, 2016 16:33 - 25 minutesOn today’s episode, we’re taking the “dismal” out of the dismal science by interviewing Yoram Bauman, who bills himself as the world’s only stand-up economist. Join us for a Laffer curve-a-minute romp through the humor of homo economicus. Along the way, we find the upside in the economic assumption that all human beings are selfish jerks and learn what classes would be included in the University of Comedy curriculum. We also take a look at some of the funniest economics papers of all time, in...
Episode 13: How a Professor Won Gambling on an Obscure Sport
February 01, 2016 14:43 - 26 minutesEpisode 13: Everyone dreams of being able to win almost every time when gambling. Of course, whether it's blackjack, horse betting, poker or the stock market, it's really hard to consistently win. But one professor, armed with advanced mathematical knowledge and computers, was able to beat the system while gambling on the obscure sport of Jai Alai. In this week's Odd Lots podcast, Steven Skiena, who teaches computer science at Stony Brook University in New York, tells the story of how he made...
Episode 12: How a Consultant Foresaw the 2015 Commodities Crash
January 25, 2016 16:47 - 24 minutesOn this episode, co-host Tracy Alloway is joined by Bloomberg Markets reporter Luke Kawa for a journey back in time. As the global elite mingle at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, we look back at a WEF gathering five years ago. Back then, the mood was buoyant -- markets had recovered from the 2008 financial crisis and the euro-zone debt crisis had yet to fully unfold. But Barrie Wilkinson, a partner at Oliver Wyman Ltd., wasn't feeling so jubilant. As bankers, ...
Episode 11: How David Bowie Became a Financial Product
January 19, 2016 16:32 - 34 minutesWhen the world lost David Bowie this month, it lost one of modern music's undisputed geniuses. Less well-known is Bowie's contribution to the financial world. In this episode of Odd Lots, hosts Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal speak with David Pullman, the banker who worked with Bowie to develop "Bowie Bonds," which paid investors on the cash flow from the artist's song royalties. This episode covers how these bonds came to be, their lasting\u0010impact on financial markets and what it was l...
Episode 10: How the World Ended Up With a Boring Banana
January 11, 2016 20:00 - 31 minutesThis week, we're taking on one of the most fragile commodities markets around. No, it's not oil (though we do get to that later in the program), it's the market for bananas. Dangerously reliant on a single, boring breed of the tropical fruit, banana growers now face a rampant disease that threatens one of the world's biggest food supplies. We talk to Dan Koeppel, author of "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World," about the development of a monoculture-based banana market and th...
Episode 9: The 2016 Predictions Episode
January 04, 2016 15:50 - 23 minutes(Bloomberg) -- It’s a new year and a new episode of Odd Lots. Co-hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway have re-stoked our proverbial holiday fire, refilled our wine glasses and are ready to continue our conversation with a newly relaxed group of Bloomberg News reporters and editors. This time we’re looking ahead to 2016, making predictions for key markets and finance events during the next 12 months. Hear how sentiment could affect stocks, why the Federal Reserve is about to become even more...
Episode 8: These Were Our Favorite Stories of 2015
December 28, 2015 16:38 - 23 minutes(Bloomberg) -- Gather ‘round the Odd Lots fire. Co-hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway have assembled a collection of Bloomberg News reporters and editors to spread holiday cheer by sharing their favorite market stories and happenings of 2015. We discuss the stock market sell-off of Aug. 24, the fall of Silk Road, drama in the pharmaceuticals industry, how we all survived the first U.S. interest rate increase in almost a decade, China’s movie-goers, and the many, many people worried about ...
Episode 7: How One Woman Tried To Sound Housing Crash Alarm
December 21, 2015 20:29 - 23 minutesThe film “The Big Short” has sparked lots of attention about the origins of the financial crisis and the people who saw it coming. While lot of attention is being paid to a few men who made a fortune on the housing collapse, this week Tracy and Joe talk to the editor of the blog “Calculated Risk” about Doris Dungey, an early blogger and whistleblower who tried to warn the world about brewing problems in the mortgage market. Between 2006 and 2008, Dungey, who wrote under the pseudonym “Tanta,”...
Episode 6: Meet The Man Who Made Millions Trading Mules
December 14, 2015 19:48 - 25 minutesThis week we're thinking about what it means to be a trader in today's electronified markets and contrast it with trading in the era of horse and buggies. That's right, we're going back in time to talk mule trading and the story of the legendary Ray Lum, who spent years buying and selling livestock all over the U.S. in the early 1900s. William R. Ferris, history professor at the University of North Carolina and author of Mule Trader: Ray Lum's Tales of Horses, Mules, and Men, tells us about L...
Episode 5: 6,000 Years of Interest Rates
December 07, 2015 17:27 - 23 minutes(Bloomberg) -- What better way to prepare for what may be the first U.S. rate hike in almost a decade than to tour 6,000 years of interest-rate history? This week, Joe and Tracy speak with NYU Stern finance professor Richard Sylla, co-author of A History of U.S. Interest Rates. We start in Babylonia, where Hammurabi codified the relationship between debtors and creditors, and end with zero percent interest rates in the U.S. in the 21st century. Along the way, we journey to the Roman city that...
Episode 4: Can a Hedge Funder Cut Prescription Drug Costs?
November 30, 2015 17:15 - 20 minutes(Bloomberg) -- Hedge-fund manager Kyle Bass has a plan that could cut the high cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. -- and make himself a lot of money. The strategy: Take short positions in a number of pharmaceutical companies while also trying to overturn their drug patents in court. Joining hosts Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal to discuss Bass's unusual tactic is Guan Yang, an occasional Bloomberg View contributor who has researched the odd intersection of Wall Street and patent law. Le...
Episode 3: The Strange Story Behind the Beanie Babies Bubble
November 23, 2015 17:14 - 23 minutes(Bloomberg) -- Two market bubbles stand out from the late 1990s. Technology stocks that were supposed to make everyone a zillionaire. The other: A series of mass-produced stuffed animals priced at $5 each. Odd Lots hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway speak with Zac Bissonnette, author of "The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute," to figure out exactly what made millions of people believe that these plush cuties were destined to soar in value. We dive into the ...
Episode 2: Under the Hood of the $8 Trln Corporate Bond Market
November 16, 2015 18:21 - 21 minutes(Bloomberg) -- It's definitely big and it might be broken. It's the bond market! The corporate bond market, that is. In the second episode of Odd Lots, hosts Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal talk corporate debt with Chris White, the creator of a Goldman Sachs bond trading platform and a longtime market structure specialist. We learn about the difficulties of shaking up an $8 trillion market that has so far proved stubbornly resistant to change. We also hear why White stopped calling internal ...
Episode 1: Tom Keene on Mathiness and His Favorite Guitar
November 06, 2015 17:10 - 22 minutes(Bloomberg) -- Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal kick off the Odd Lots podcast by interviewing the legendary television and radio host Tom Keene. On Tom’s mind this week: Fat tail risks, mathiness on Wall Street and how he rediscovered his favorite guitar. And don’t forget Newtonian mechanics and bow ties. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Odd Lots Preview
November 04, 2015 21:27 - 3 minutes(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Episode Zero of the Odd Lots podcast! Every week, hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway take you on a not-so random weekly walk through hot topics in markets, finance and economics. In this introduction, Joe and Tracy discuss what you can expect from the show and introduce the guest of the first episode, the legendary Tom Keene. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com