Dr. Doom Turns Bullish on U.S. Stocks
Whoa, the financial end must be nigh: Marc “Dr. Doom” Faber has turned bullish on U.S. stocks.
“If the price of oil and other commodities declines for a while, it leads to something like a tax cut for the consumer,” Faber said, speaking at a recent Hong Kong conference.
“Whereas I am very negative in the long run, and I believe that the U.S. economic imbalances are not sustainable, for the next few months the investment community is too negative on the U.S. economy which is more likely to surprise to the upside than the downside.”
Waitaminute. For the next few months? Okay, that doesn’t really qualify as bullish. Let’s call it more like temporarily non-bearish.
Doctor Doom [Paul Kedrosky]
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Bono: I Bought The News Today
Elevation Partners, named after one of its partner’s songs, has purchased a large minority stake in the newly-reated Forbes Media. Describing the rationale behind the deal, Steve Forbes dais, “We wanted the wherewithal to pursue the enormous opportunities in front of us, and Elevation understands technology, media and print.” Exact terms were not disclosed, but the chatter is that the private equity firm received more than 40 percent of Forbes Media for an investment in the range of $250 million to $300 million. With print ad sales on the decline, the allure of the deal was most likely Forbes.com, which has more than 10 million unique visitors a month, which is music to advertisers’ ears.
Investors, Including Bono, Buy Forbes [NY Times]
J.P. Morgan Merger Maven Moves to Morgan Stanley
In a trend reversal of bad news coming out of Morgan Stanley, the venerable firm announced it had lured away M&A hotshot Robert Kindler from rival J.P. Morgan. In addition to what one can only assume will be a pay hike for Kindler, Morgan Stanley also kicked in the title of vice chairman of investment banking. According to The Wall Street Journal, Kindler is also old pals with MS co-prez Robert Scully.
Chief of Mergers to Morgan Stanley [WSJ]
