FT Alphaville

Figma’s IPO soared 250% — cue outrage. $3bn left on the table? A rigged game? Not so fast. In @alphaville.ft.com, I argue that the “broken” IPO process may just be the least-worst option. $FIG

Free to read: www.ft.com/content/9fa9...

Four reasons why private credit isn’t actually a systemic risk [FREE TO READ] Courtesy of Goldman Sachs

on.ft.com/4fgkyzs

FTAV’s Friday charts quiz Chart Deco

Here’s FTAV’s Friday charts quiz, this week with a thematic twist. See if you can guess it. 📈 on.ft.com/46Eb8f6

FTAV Q&A: Gregory Peters [FREE TO READ] On why bonds are boss, OG fixed-income analyst Marty Leibowitz and how memorising cocktail recipes is a waste of time

"Liquidity became like trying to eat a watermelon through a straw."

on.ft.com/4mmBIOc

Will the last SEC minority commissioner please turn off the lights on the way out? [FREE TO READ] The end of dissent

Regulatory capture:

on.ft.com/457HBba

A stale, taxing take on M&S’s viral strawberry ‘sando’ [FREE TO READ] VAT’s all, folks

2500 words on a sandwich

on.ft.com/4l4S5xM

What’ll happen if we spend nearly $3tn on data centres no one needs? [FREE TO READ] Nineties adults remember

on.ft.com/4lWqf8q

The negative-haircut repo market phenomenon Reverse clickbait alert

Instructive piece by @alphaville.ft.com on the #repo market, that shows how banks’ intragroup transactions (between commercial & investment arms) explain a substantial part of the rise of negative haircuts in Europe

TL;DR => post-2008 ringfencing measures are toothless

www.ft.com/content/301b...

Behold the first AI-native investment bank [FREE TO READ] LLMs (large language models) for the LMM (lower middle-market)

on.ft.com/3TYbgyq

Are consultants really just a waste of human skin? Some interesting findings from Belgium (really)

Here's a post about a moderately interesting study of management consulting efficacy, with a headline optimised for LinkedIn.

on.ft.com/4mmgC2F

Here comes the sun (power) [FREE TO READ] Goldman Sachs ❤️ ☀️

It was the sun watt won it.

on.ft.com/3H9fLmR

So why are markets so weirdly buoyant? [FREE TO READ] TACO, tech and tough consumers

on.ft.com/4o6EcBY

Bitcoin will go up if more people buy bitcoin and won’t if they don’t: Citi [FREE TO READ] Further adventures in bulge bracket rationalisation of number-go-up economics

on.ft.com/4kVW7IM

FTAV’s Friday charts quiz [FREE TO READ] Graphing Stock

📈+📉+📊 = 👕

on.ft.com/46YRcDy

Revisiting some chat transcripts after Tom Hayes’ exoneration [FREE TO READ] What are the lessons of the Libor scandal?

Tom Hayes, in his own words.

on.ft.com/3GWigZO

Strategy stretches for more cash Michael Saylor is building a pharaonic edifice of financial engineering. Does his latest fundraise give a clue to the endgame?

Reinforcing Strategy? Up to a point ....

on.ft.com/44KmdtA

Trading meme stocks around index reshuffles is stupid and profitable [FREE TO READ] Because retail’s gonna retail

Turns out "buy stuff before other people have to buy it" isn't a failsafe strategy.

on.ft.com/4kUyKPM

Trump tariff troubles, canned version [FREE TO READ] Whoever smelt it dealt it

How much is a pint? It's complicated.

on.ft.com/3Uzy4od

Political pressure on the Fed: an historical echo from Canada When firing backfires

Trump's Fed attacks have a parallel.

on.ft.com/4o8M3iE

The art of no deal: M&A in the age of the Unitary Executive [FREE TO READ] Contribute, capitulate, or get cancelled

on.ft.com/45bXuhX

FTAV Q&A: Nathaniel Fried [FREE TO READ] The tech entrepreneur and (briefly) brain behind Reform UK’s ‘Doge’ project talks cyber security, OSINT and local councils

This week's Q&A is with a spookware specialist and Doge UK leader who didn't even last a whole Scaramucci.

on.ft.com/44Y0tZV

Europe’s ‘single market for defence’, with Jeromin Zettelmeyer [FREE TO READ] A podcast cross-promotion post

🔊 💣

on.ft.com/46hqWEl

The elusive ‘illiquidity premium’ [FREE TO READ] Aviva Investors pull back the curtain

Is it possible to put a number on the private debt illiquidity premium? No.

What about lots of numbers? Yes!

on.ft.com/4lE5jCX

But wait, do French OATs REALLY trade at a spread over Italian BTPS? [FREE TO READ] Yes. And no.

Please join us down a bond benchmark rabbit hole.

on.ft.com/40nTU1E

FTAV’s Friday chart quiz Jean-Paul Chartre

Your signal that the work week is nearly over.

on.ft.com/3ITrW7G

FTAV Q&A: Mark Hiley The renowned spotter of dodgy and overvalued stocks talks about cleaning up European markets and Clapham pavements

A long chat with a short guy.

on.ft.com/4kNHIOX

But wait, do French OATs REALLY trade at a spread over Italian BTPS? [FREE TO READ] Yes. And no.

Please join us down a bond benchmark rabbit hole.

on.ft.com/40nTU1E

FTAV’s further reading [FREE TO READ] Teflon economies; offshore hideaways; bank M&A; bitcoin rot; Japan; and marriage

A whole week of FTAV's Further Reading, should you want it.

Friday: on.ft.com/40oNH5x

Thursday: on.ft.com/4kI4Xd1

Wednesday: on.ft.com/4kI4Xd1

Tuesday: on.ft.com/4kI4Xd1

Monday: on.ft.com/3IAZd7F

CBDC for thee but not for me The cognitive dissonance of America’s pro-crypto policymaking

Happy Crypto Boxing Day.

on.ft.com/40sf2Up

bsky.app/profile/alph...