Tag: New York

From the Trader’s Desk: The Best of Frenemies – Billions S4 E3

You’ll take my life but I’ll take yours too
You’ll fire your musket but I’ll run you through
So when you’re waiting for the next attack
You’d better stand there’s no turning back
The Trooper – Iron Maiden

Hello from the Trader’s Desk! This week, everyone is waiting for the next attack, be it from a friend, an enemy, or a chicken!

As seems to be the new normal, The War Council (Axe, Wags, Wendy) discussing taking down Taylor and TMC. Hall is not having the easiest time getting into TMC security. His counterpart there is someone whom Hall says “is a good man” and “thorough”. (Could Cook have been one of Hall’s minions at one time?) Hall is going to have to earn his paycheck on this assignment. He comes bearing a gift – a thumbdrive with TMC’s positions and trading patterns! It’s not the MOAB  Axe needs, but he can use the info to front-run TMC and take a little of their alpha. Wendy has a better idea: really go big on positions TMC wants to increase, taking a lot of little pieces of profit. Taylor will notice, and because they are such a perfectionist, will try to figure out the problem, taking them off their game. This is where Wendy has value: not knowing the market or stocks, but knowing the way Taylor thinks. Even Hall is impressed by Wendy! Continue reading “From the Trader’s Desk: The Best of Frenemies – Billions S4 E3”

From the Trader’s Desk: Runnin’ with The Devil – Billions S4 E2

I live my life like there’s no tomorrow
And all I’ve got, I had to steal
Least I don’t need to beg or borrow
Yes I’m livin’ at a pace that kills
Runnin’ With the Devil – Van Halen

Greetings from the Trader’s Desk! I’m going to do things a bit different today. Instead of doing an in-depth recap (my partner in crime Damianista has done an amazing one), I’ll be giving my observations of the various relationships we saw this week. Also, on a good news front, I’ll be having surgery to remove my chemo port this week, and I’ll be on the disabled list for a day or so, so this will have to be a bit condensed. As always, if there is some “fin-speak” you need explained, please let me know!

I want to start with an explanation of what Private Equity is, since it was a big part of the Axe/Rebecca storyline. Private equity is composed of funds and investors that directly invest in private companies. For example, if a firm or an individual invested in Uber (a private company) they will have gotten in early, before the company goes public and IPOs. These investors now have a percentage (or shares) in the company. When the company does go public, the investment could have increased significantly, and now the shares can be sold publicly. Investing in private equity is not a guarantee – sometimes you need to kiss a lot of frogs before you get your Prince! Continue reading “From the Trader’s Desk: Runnin’ with The Devil – Billions S4 E2”

9/11: The Rise and The Fall of Bobby Axelrod?

source: Showtime

Billions is first and foremost a New York show. And there is nothing more natural than the darkest day of the city, September 11, still shadowing the lives and relationships of our characters. Besides, we all know 9/11 was particularly a very dark day for financial services firms many of which had offices in the World Trade Center. Cantor Fitzgerald lost two thirds of its workforce on 9/11.

source: spoilertv.com
source: spoilertv.com

One of the first things we learn about Axe in The Pilot that he is a 9/11 survivor. He is, in fact, the only partner that survived the terrorist attacks because he was out of office in meetings while most of his colleagues and friends died. And seeing that Axe Capital is located in Westport, Connecticut, we also find out Axe Capital is among the financial houses that chose to move from Wall Street to neighboring Connecticut or New Jersey after the destruction of downtown NYC on 9/11.

We then find Axe in a conference room at Axe Capital with the widows and children of his friends that died on 9/11. Axe has been giving college scholarships to these kids for years. He has been keeping it private that there has never been a press release or an interview with him about it.

Continue reading “9/11: The Rise and The Fall of Bobby Axelrod?”

Chuck Seniorisms by the Dozen, Part II

A Baker’s Dozen…And Then Some

You should know by now from my ‘Chuck Seniorisms by the Dozen’ Part I and watching the show Billions that Charles Rhoades Sr., often referred to simply as Senior, is played by the extraordinary actor Jeffrey DeMunn. Senior oozes a noble, high-born conviction with not so subtle hints of a slime ball undercurrent magnified by his Bob Barker mischievous smirk.

Senior is an Upper East Side grand master and epitome of the WASP elite who went to Yale and was a Whiffenpoof. He’s a member of the Yale Club of New York, stores his cigars at Nat Sherman Tobacco Lounge, although in season three he tells Wendy he’s cleaning out a walk-in closet of his prodigal son’s trivial prep school trophies to make room for a humidor, and hangs around with the likes of pals named Tate Tappan and Stuckey Brown, and rubs elbows with Kingmakers named Black Jack Foley.

Continue reading “Chuck Seniorisms by the Dozen, Part II”

Catching Up With Damian Lewis on
Billions Season 4 Set

I personally promised several of you to write about my conversation with Damian when I caught up with him on Billions set back in December as soon as I come back from vacation. I have been buried under teaching and committee work and meetings since I came back that I have just been able to find some time to sit and write. And while it may be a while ago and that I do sometimes not remember what I had for dinner last night, I vividly remember my conversation with Damian 😀

This blog has had an interesting relationship with Billions. I launched the blog only two weeks before they started shooting the pilot in New York and I have been very lucky to catch up with Damian on the set once every season since. I do not know how many times you need to do a thing for it to become a tradition, but catching up with Damian on Billions set once a year certainly feels like a tradition now.

The day I “met” Bobby Axelrod on Billions pilot set, February 3, 2015, source: Damianista

And when I saw Billions signs on Park Avenue on a Saturday evening in December, I thought I could continue the tradition. The signs hint that they might shoot at an ultra fancy restaurant where I could easily imagine Axe eat with other billionaires, and was happy that I could continue the tradition. Continue reading “Catching Up With Damian Lewis on Billions Season 4 Set”