Soros' Penney Shares

Said a billionaire octogenarian
Of a much-unloved stock he was carryin':
"What's the use of my hoard
If I cannot afford
To indulge in a bet that's contrarian?"

Season of Easin'

S&P GSCI GLOBAL COMMODITY INDEX 
VS. U.S. 5-YEAR INFLATION EXPECTATION

The Fed has a great flexibility
To promote economic stability;
They may finish QE
If it's growth they foresee,
Or extend if they sense more fragility.

In the weakening outlook of Spring,
It appears to QE they must cling,
While back in the Winter,
We thought they'd begin ter
Discreetly unwind the whole thing.

A Short-Lived Hoax

A group of young hackers from Syria,
Who set off a market hysteria,
Confounded the Street
With a single, fake tweet;
One may ask: were their motives ulteriah?

If their hoax has turned out to conceal
An elaborate insider deal,
They'll have done an offense
For which there's a sense
Of prosecutorial zeal.

They'd have carried it out with impunity
If they'd sunk the financial community,
As there's many a name
That's committed the same
And seems to get off with immunity.

Error Checking

Two economists, feeling audacious,
Said that GDP's headed for stasis,
But the flaws that befell
Their work in Excel
Put their claims on an incorrect basis.

Economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart were embarrassed this week when it turned out that their advocacy for federal debt reduction was based on error-laden Excel spreadsheets. As Heidi Moore reminds us in The Guardian: "The fact that economics spits out cold, hard numbers should not fool us that it produces the cold, hard truth." There is another cold, hard truth we should be concerned about, though: business relies on Excel spreadsheets to a great degree, and many of them contain material errors. You may be reaching ill-founded conclusions based on failed formulas right now.

If you would heed my sage advice,
Then check your work, not once, but twice.

Admission Control

Said a girl at the school where she prepped:
"As of late, it is hard to have slept,
When my counselors relate
The diminishing rate
At which colleges lately accept."

"I must temper my high expectation
For my 20th school application,
As it may be perhaps
My profusion of apps
Will worsen a bad situation."