Wall Street puts boots on the ground to scope out mails

摘要

At least some Wall Street analysts seem to have learnt a lesson or two from the sub-prime crisis. They are on a whirlwind tour of shopping malls to see with their own eyes if big department store closures are indeed putting properties into a death spiral. Speculators have been heavily buying credit default swaps on property bond indices with high exposure to retail with the hope they will fail. The high-profile trade has already gained its detractors, with some questioning if it is the best way to play the market. ("No sure thing in bet against retail," IFR 2178, page 8.)