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Robert Salomon submits: In January I predicted (see Notable Bankruptcies of 2009: Q1) that “major” bankruptcies in 2009 would challenge the 383 mark set in 2001 (the high-water mark after the dotcom bubble). I even suggested that it was possible that we could exceed 400 “major” bankruptcies in 2009. According to Bankruptcydata.com, there have been 156 “major” filings thus far in 2009. Assuming that bankruptcies are equally distributed throughout the year, this puts us on pace for 312 bankruptcies. That is tracking well shy of my prediction. In fact, bankruptcies were down significantly from Q1 to Q2, as there were 90 bankruptcies in the first quarter but only 66 in the second.Complete Story »

Ryan Barnes submits:When you lose, Don’t lose the lesson - The Dalai Lama For the better part of 5 months I’ve been kicking myself over not dumping Pfizer (PFE) from the Secular Trends Portfolio the day they announced the Wyeth merger. The second I heard about the deal I honestly thought the TV announcer had made a mistake; “No no, it couldn’t be Wyeth. That would just be stupid”Complete Story »

Prieur du Plessis submits: The performance of a number of global stock markets is given in the table below in local currency terms for different measurement terms ended June 30. Other than to say that the second quarter delivered exceptional gains and that the first half of 2009 is not looking too shabby either (bar a few exceptions such as the Dow Jones Industrial Index), the numbers speak for themselves. Click here or on the table below for a larger image.Complete Story »

Hard Assets Investor submits: By Brad Ziglerreal-time Monetary Inflation (per annum): 8.5%There's a little bit of tarnish on silver now. Silver spent the first five months of 2009 building strength against gold. The gold/silver ratio, which started the year at 80-to-1, slumped to a 61 multiple at the beginning of June. It's been rebounding since then and now has breached its former breakout level at 68x.Complete Story »

Felix Salmon submits: Michael Lewis is back in Vanity Fair, with a really good article about Joseph Cassano and AIG Financial Products. Or half of a really good article, at any rate — the second half of the story is fantastic, and gives by far the best English-language account of what happened at FP and how Cassano, by commission and omission, enabled it. (The piece isn’t online, just a précis — I do hope VF gives up this annoying habit soon.) There’s a bit too much irrelevant throat-clearing at the beginning of the piece, though, and there’s also this very peculiar passage:Complete Story »

Felix Salmon submits: There’s been a lot of noise about overdraft fees of late, or NSF fees as they’re known in the industry. (It stands for non-sufficient funds.) Bank of America will now assess such things ten times a day, and the NYT’s Eric Dash has a good overview of the problem using data from Moebs Services: The most unexpected change has occurred in overdraft fees — the industry’s most lucrative and controversial charge — where the typical fee rose to $26 after five years at $25.Complete Story »

Felix Salmon submits: Nina Munk’s VF article on Harvard’s endowment isn’t online, but the précis is, and it seems that Larry Summers takes a particular beating, being blamed for $1 billion in losses on interest-rate swaps, as well as for meddling with Harvard Management Company’s investment strategies and ultimately, with Bob Rubin, being responsible for the departure of Jack Meyer. The result? Munk asked the hedge fund manager to look at Harvard’s finances and assess the extent to which its endowment will be able to keep pace with its immovable costs. The hedge fund manager’s conclusion: “They are completely fucked.”Complete Story »