Monday morning poem ~ Macro Man

With apologies to Guy Wetmore Carryl....

The lira from the Bosphorus
Makes carry traders prosperous
As long as vol keeps falling
Thereby stalling
The drawdown

The ongoing liquidity
Feeds risk asset cupidity
And central banks buy dollars
Causing hollers
And a frown

Protectionists in Washington
Are getting very angry, son
And threaten legislation
For the nation
To protect

Will Madame Wu negotiate
Or could it be that it’s too late
And widening the band
Will out of hand
Congress reject

Though if CBs change their M.O.
(Could Kuwait serve as a demo?)
Then liquidity could tighten
Stocks may frighten,
Take a hit

For if bond yields keep on rising
Stocks will look unappetizing
Unless PE keeps on buying
And they’re trying
I admit

So for now stocks keep on soaring
Overweights and longs keep scoring
As the rest wait for correction
And rejection
Of the highs

And thus feel underinvested
And appear disinterested
For it all just feels too sleazy
So it’s easy
To despise

But I want to take some profits
Take some risk exposure off, it’s
Best to lock in a good May
And live to play
Again in June

So I’ll close my whole Turkey long
And the EUR/USD feels wrong
Keep my FX alpha steady
So I’m ready
For the swoon!

6 comments

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Anonymous

admin

May 21, 2007 at 4:16 PM ×

So is China's Blackstone stake the exit strategy for the CPC mandarins who spirited their hard-earned graft offshore to the PE funds? Sorry I couldn't make it scan (What the hell is that, iambic octo-quattuordecimeter?)

Macro Man

May 21, 2007 at 4:53 PM ×

They've already said that the Blackstone investment is the first allocation of the yet un-named and unformed soverign wealth fund. This fits with the notion that the new fund would invest in less liquid, higher returning stuff.

I have no idea what the meter of the poem is called, though your guess is as good as any.

The syllabnic layout is as follows for each verse

8
8
7
4
3

(I cheated a couple of times)

Any the rhyming is like this

a
a
b
b
c

d
d
e
e
c

The poem by Carryl upon which it's based is one of my all time favourites....the wordplay and scansion is just about nthe cleverest I've ever come across.

May 21, 2007 at 5:25 PM ×

You put alot of work into that little ditty. Ibex Salad approves of, although perhaps does not practice, the art of writing.

Congrats, CB.

May 21, 2007 at 6:25 PM ×

Thanks, Charles. I've been thinking about trying to use the form for some time, so I can guess you could say it was half written in my head before I started...

May 21, 2007 at 7:13 PM ×

The intriguing aspect is that IPO shareholder dividends get hind teat v. cash distributions to Blackstone funds - reflecting lower risk, to be sure - but If I was a provincial governor with an offshore nest egg in a Blackstone fund, I would call up my pals in Beijing and get them to sluice some government money into the IPO, keep the festivities going until my lockup ends.

I particularly liked profits... off it's.

May 21, 2007 at 7:59 PM ×

Yeah, I suppose it wouldn't be surprising if the $3 billion allocation weren't accompanied by a nudge and a wink and a promise of an IPO allocation. Everyone seems to be playing markets in China these days , including the building superintendents in Shanghai