Weekend links October 29th 2010

Let’s start off this week by an article about insider trading in the Dealbook. This case is not against the promoters, directors or any other senior executives, but rather on a mechanical engineer and a trainman of a railroad company!

From the Dealbook:

Late last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought an unusual and colorful insider-trading case: It accused two employees who worked in the rail yard of Florida East Coast Industries and their relatives of making more than $1 million by trading on inside information about the takeover of the company.

How did these employees — a mechanical engineer and a trainman — know their company was on the block?

Well, they were very observant.

They noticed “there were an unusual number of daytime tours” of the rail yard, the S.E.C. said in its complaint, with “people dressed in business attire.”

This looks more like a case of putting 2 and 2 together by these people and making some bets, and not insider trading to me but unfortunately for these two guys my opinion doesn’t count. What do you make of it?

Earlier this week I wrote about volatility and Roger Nusbaum has a very thoughtful post on the difference between risk and volatility. I really liked the post, and recommend it strongly.

Another thoughtful post – this time by Sandip Sabharwal on what long term equity markets should average.

Frank from Bad Money Advice has this great post about gift cards in which he talks about how some gift cards actually sell at a premium, and also how the treasury is worried about terrorists getting their hands on gift cards!

The Digerati Life has this useful post about how you can do stock market research.

Let me end with this post by Deepak Shenoy where he answers some questions from a reader about credit card overcharges.

Enjoy your weekend!

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