Odd Lots

Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway explore the most interesting topics in finance, markets and economics. Join the conversation every Monday and Thursday.

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Episodes

Episode 7: How One Woman Tried To Sound Housing Crash Alarm

The 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,” be...

Dec 21, 2015•22 min

Episode 6: Meet The Man Who Made Millions Trading Mules

This 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 Lum'...

Dec 14, 2015•25 min

Episode 5: 6,000 Years of Interest Rates

(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 pl...

Dec 07, 2015•23 min

Episode 4: Can a Hedge Funder Cut Prescription Drug Costs?

(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. See om...

Nov 30, 2015•20 min

Episode 3: The Strange Story Behind the Beanie Babies Bubble

(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 psy...

Nov 23, 2015•23 min

Episode 2: Under the Hood of the $8 Trln Corporate Bond Market

(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 mee...

Nov 16, 2015•20 min

Episode 1: Tom Keene on Mathiness and His Favorite Guitar

(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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 06, 2015•22 min

The Odd Lots Preview

(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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 04, 2015•3 min

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