Five for the Weekend #17: Thanksgiving Edition

The US markets are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow (Thursday) and re-opening for a shortened trading day Friday. But Controlled Greed is declaring victory and taking the rest of the week off. Some posting may resume between now and Monday, but probably not. So here are five items you might check out in this special early edition of Five for the Weekend.

• The BCE (BCE/NYSE) deal has apparently collapsed. The company said it had received a “preliminary view” from auditing firm KPMG that “based on current market conditions, its analysis to date and the amount of indebtedness involved,” it does not expect to be able to deliver an opinion on the closing date of Dec. 11 that BCE “would meet the solvency tests as defined in the definitive agreement.” Andrew Willis of the Globe and Mail (H/T Can Turtles Fly? blog) speculates BCE will return to stock buybacks and paying dividends. Which is back to square one for me. I bought BCE because the market viewed it as a legacy phone company, ignoring its growth businesses in high-speed Internet and wireless, and ignoring its commitment to return cash to shareholders. Then it wanted to become an income trust (thwarted by changes in Canadian law) and then came the Ontario Teachers buyout agreement. I'm holding for now.

• I once had a reader politely chastise me for linking to Holman Jenkins, columnist for The Wall Street Journal. I've only linked to him three or so times (I think) since launching this blog in 2005. Jenkins strikes me as an interesting guy, with sometimes different takes on issues of the day. Like his piece today, where he asks a question no one in Congress seems to have thought of: Why can General Motors and Ford produce cars profitably outside North America, but not inside? Food for thought.

• Niall Ferguson was interviewed on C-SPAN2's AfterWords program last weekend by The Economist's Adrian Wooldridge. The hour-long interview coincides with the release of Ferguson's new book, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. This type of programming is hugely interesting to me. But anyone who enjoys MTV and reality television will be bored to tears.

• At the risk of spoiling anyone's festive mood, we're probably coming up on a winter of discontent in early 2009. Austerity may be the operative word. This posting from Lew Rockwell's blog links to the "10 immutable laws of money," which is timely reading for many of us.

• The late Alistair Cooke was born 100 years ago as of November 20. Mark Steyn wrote a wonderful remembrance of the man upon his passing away in 2004. They worked together for a time at the BBC bureau in New York. Steyn writes this type of thing better than anyone around (he wrote a dynamite remembrance of Lois Maxwell, "Miss Moneypenny" of the James Bond films, upon her death in 2007).

Happy Thanksgiving to all American readers. Happy belated Thanksgiving to those of you in Canada (who celebrate in October). And to readers everywhere, we'll see you next week if not sooner.

Comments

[Tim]

You should look at W.R. Grace (GRA)