Bill Gross' Bloomberg Terminal to be in Smithsonian

'Bond king' Bill Gross donates old Bloomberg keyboard, Beanie Babies to Smithsonian

Excerpt:

The co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co. also donated several other items from his trading desk -- a Monroe Trader bond calculator, two Beanie Babies (one red bull and one black bear) and a pair of fuzzy dice always set to lucky number 11. ... Gross' status in the financial world made his keyboard even more important, Liebhold said. He added that the addition of the dice and the Beanie Babies helps to humanize Gross' keyboard beyond its technological value. "I was really interested in the notion of Bill Gross as the individual," he said. "It really makes that moment where our visitors can really identify with it much more." Gross said he always arranged his dice and Beanie Babies a certain way at his desk and might be tempted to do so when he sees the exhibition. "I'll want to adjust the dice to 11 if they're not to 11," he said. "And make sure the bull and the bear are appropriately placed so that if I'm bearish on the market, the bear is a little more forward than the bull." The keyboard also has a signature Gross touch. At the top is a piece of white sticker tape with his old password on it.

Comment: Screen shot from article.

Econony at ‘Stall Speed’

U.S. Economy Running at ‘Stall Speed’

Excerpt:

Pacific Investment Management Co. and BlackRock Inc., which together oversee almost $5 trillion, say the U.S. economy is stalling.

Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pimco, and Peter Fisher, head of fixed income at BlackRock, say the Federal Reserve is preparing measures to counter the slowdown.

“We’re not looking at a recession yet, but we’re at a tipping point,” Gross said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We’re at what we call a stall speed in which corporate profits don’t grow, jobs aren’t created,” said Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California.

The U.S. recovery that began two years ago has been losing momentum and there are even odds the nation will slip into a recession, according to Harvard University economics professor Martin Feldstein

Comment: Despite QE1, QE2, TARP, Auto bailouts, Cash for Clunkers, Rebates for home buyers, et cetera. Job creation is near zero. My take is that Obamacare has introduced a lot of doubt into the business world and is counter-productive to economic growth