Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Bond Guru Martin Fridson Erroneously Refers To The Financial Times As "Salmon Colored"

It's bisque, dammit!!!

From FT capital markets reporter Robert Smith
Yes, I know the FT's website used to say the paper was a "distinctive shade of salmon pink." but that was just a less-than-perfect shorthand.
(shorthand was something journos used to do to take notes at high speed, I looked it up)

The "distinctive shade..." is no longer found via a cursory search (the statement on slavery is still there, the FT is against it) but here are the contenders via Color Hex.
 
Using the red/green/blue color codes, there are others formulas, follow the links if interested:

#ffa07a Color Hex Light Salmon

#FFA07A
(255,160,122)

vs.

#ffe4c4 Color Hex Bisque 1

#FFE4C4
(255,228,196)


So you tell me

Regarding the less important part of Fridson's comment, "junk bond" or "high-yield" here's a 2013 post:

From Bloomberg:

Default ‘Wave’ of $1.6 Trillion Looming for Junk, Fridson Says
Almost $1.6 trillion of junk bonds globally will default between 2016 and 2020, according to Martin Fridson, chief executive officer of New York-based FridsonVision LLC, a research firm specializing in speculative-grade debt....
I don't recall Marty objecting to the freakin' headline putting "junk" adjacent to his name.

That said, we like Mr. Fridson who is miles ahead of the other junk high-yield maven, Edward Altman.

After Altman left academia he went to Morgan Stanley and found an historical 1% default rate.
Of course is was totally in error but MS marketing guys liked it.
And he's back at NYU and no one ever mentions the 1% thing.

But salmon? Here's salmon:
Is There a Wonk Bubble?
Felix Salmon at Politico Magazine:...
There may, or may not be a wonk bubble but I'll admit there probably is a nerd bubble.

HT: (blame) for this digression, Dan McCrum.
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