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766 deep dives in 24 categories · last updated Oct 13, 2026

78 matching deep dives

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Markets

Financial mechanisms, market structure, rates and business models explained with practical examples.

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

TQQQ versus QQQ since 2010: a far bigger gain, and an 82% fall on the way

From TQQQ's first trading day in February 2010 to October 2, 2026, $10,000 grew to about $3.95 million in the three-times leveraged fund and about $198,000 in QQQ, with distributions reinvested. On a closing total-return basis, TQQQ also fell 81.65% from its 2021 peak and needed more than three years to recover. Its daily leverage does not deliver three times the index's long-run return.

Updated Oct 11, 202610 sources5 versions

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

SPY versus QQQ since 1999: QQQ ended ahead after a far deeper fall

From QQQ's March 1999 launch to October 2, 2026, $10,000 grew to about $174,168 in QQQ and $96,412 in SPY with dividends reinvested. On a closing total-return basis, QQQ first lost almost 83% from its 2000 peak and took until 2015 to regain it. SPY's worst loss, 55% in the financial crisis, was repaired by 2012.

Updated Oct 11, 202611 sources3 versions

Regulatory & Failure CasesResearch Lab

Lehman Brothers in 2008: the failed rescue and the long aftermath

Lehman’s September 2008 bankruptcy followed mounting property losses, shrinking access to cash and a failed rescue weekend. Barclays and Nomura took over businesses, while the Repo 105 investigation and separate creditor proceedings continued long after the collapse.

Updated Oct 7, 202614 sources3 versions

Market Conduct & Failure CasesResearch Lab

Enron: how reported performance became detached from economic risk

Enron grew from pipelines into energy trading and investment, then used conflicted partnerships and misleading reporting to obscure risk. Internal warnings, public disclosures and a failed rescue exposed the dependence of its accounts, credit and liquidity on one another.

Updated Oct 5, 202619 sources2 versions

Market Conduct & Failure CasesResearch Lab

FTX: customer assets, Alameda and the meaning of recovery

The rise and collapse of FTX connects an exchange, its affiliated trading firm, privileged access to customer money and a nine-day public unraveling. Criminal judgments and later cash recoveries answer different questions about what happened to customers and their assets.

Updated Oct 13, 202624 sources3 versions

Interest Rates & Fixed IncomeResearch Lab

Why LIBOR ended: a benchmark lost its market

Manipulation damaged LIBOR’s credibility. The shrinking market behind it made replacement unavoidable, setting off a years-long effort to move loans and derivatives to new reference rates.

Updated Oct 7, 202616 sources2 versions

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

The COVID crash: how stocks regained a record while the economy struggled

In 2020, the S&P 500 plunged almost 34% and regained a closing record within six months. Emergency support and changing expectations helped markets recover while jobs and businesses remained under strain.

Updated Oct 7, 202616 sources2 versions

Interest Rates & Fixed IncomeResearch Lab

The long Treasury selloff: how safe payments lost market value

Low yields in 2020 left long Treasury bonds exposed when inflation and interest rates rose. Their payment promises survived, but resale prices fell sharply and the later rebound was incomplete.

Updated Oct 7, 202613 sources2 versions

Insurance & RetirementResearch Lab

The rise of the 401(k): how workplace retirement became an individual account

How a 1978 tax provision grew into a workplace savings institution, why automatic enrollment followed, and what the asset totals conceal about access, costs and household outcomes.

Updated Oct 13, 202614 sources4 versions

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

The 2010 Flash Crash: how trading volume concealed a liquidity failure

How a futures hedge, rapid trading and disappearing quotes combined on May 6, 2010, and why the market investigation, safeguard changes and Sarao prosecution answer different questions.

Updated Oct 7, 20268 sources2 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

The Red Sea shipping crisis: attacks, detours and the long route back

Attacks near Yemen sent ships around Africa, keeping cargo moving at the cost of longer voyages. Naval protection, diplomacy and selected return plans followed on different timetables.

Updated Oct 13, 202617 sources4 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

The chip shortage: how missing components stopped much larger machines

During 2021–2022, factories could have most of a vehicle ready and still lack the chip needed to finish it. Pandemic demand, crowded chip plants and long delivery times turned small components into large production losses.

Updated Oct 7, 20267 sources2 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

U.S. interest rates: from banking panics to inflation battles

The story of American interest rates runs through bank failures, wartime finance, the inflation of the 1970s and the crises that brought rates close to zero. Each era changed how monetary policy worked.

Updated Oct 7, 202628 sources2 versions

Market Conduct & Failure CasesResearch Lab

Celsius Network: from weekly crypto rewards to years of creditor recovery

Celsius stopped withdrawals in June 2022. Customers then faced a bankruptcy fight over ownership, a founder’s fraud conviction and a recovery process involving cryptocurrency, litigation proceeds and shares in a separate mining successor.

Updated Oct 13, 202620 sources3 versions

Market Conduct & Failure CasesResearch Lab

Theranos: the blood-testing promise, the money and the verdicts

Theranos sold investors a story of technical breakthroughs and rapid commercial growth. The evidence, civil settlement and separate criminal trials produced different findings and remedies, followed by a 2026 Supreme Court denial of Sunny Balwani’s petition.

Updated Oct 13, 20268 sources3 versions

Interest Rates & Fixed IncomeResearch Lab

Convertible bonds: borrowing now, sharing upside later

Convertible bonds trade a cash-interest bill for a possible claim on future shares. TeraWulf’s 2025 financing shows why conversion rights, cash settlement and dilution depend on the contract.

Updated Oct 13, 20264 sources3 versions

Company & Platform ProfilesResearch Lab

American Electric Power: financing the next electricity buildout

How American Electric Power grew into an 11-state utility system, and how its data-center-driven expansion connects earnings, debt, new capital and customer bills.

Updated Oct 13, 202629 sources2 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

Michigan’s finances: stronger reserves, an unresolved audit warning and obligations beyond the budget

Michigan entered FY2027 with stronger rainy-day reserves but mixed revenue signals, while its latest state audit carried a corporate-tax accounting qualification and federal-program compliance warnings.

Updated Oct 13, 202620 sources2 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

The Survey of Consumer Finances: how the Fed measures family wealth, and why median and mean tell different stories

The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances combines a national random sample with a tax-record sample of wealthy families to measure what U.S. families own and owe. Following its method, definitions and the 2022-to-2025 results shows why median and mean figures can diverge and why one survey has limits.

Updated Oct 12, 202612 sources

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

Cleveland’s 1978 default: the debts, the power company and the road back

Cleveland’s failure to repay short-term notes grew out of years of strained finances and a battle over public power. Recovery required new revenue, refinancing and changes that lasted well beyond the missed payment.

Updated Oct 11, 20269 sources3 versions

Business Models & StrategyResearch Lab

Geneva Steel: a $110 million rescue, then another shutdown

A $110 million loan helped Geneva emerge from bankruptcy in 2001. Its Utah mill was idled that November and back in court the following January; a second financing plan failed, leaving equipment sales and cleanup obligations.

Updated Oct 11, 202610 sources3 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

How Salt Lake paid for the 2002 Olympics

Utah’s early tax funding, Olympic sponsorships and government services helped stage the Games. The organizers’ surplus financed a lasting sports legacy, but it was only one part of the public bill.

Updated Oct 11, 202611 sources3 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

Ohio’s finances: stronger receipts, committed surpluses and unfinished control repairs

Ohio’s stronger tax collections created room for new spending and relief. Much of that money already has a purpose, while the latest budget forecast and repeated Medicaid findings raise separate questions about flexibility and financial controls.

Updated Oct 11, 202618 sources2 versions

Business Models & StrategyResearch Lab

Piketon’s nuclear-fuel revival: a demonstration becomes a bigger bet

Piketon’s enrichment project survived an earlier financing failure and returned as a HALEU demonstration. Federal awards, conditional customer commitments and a priced securities offering underpin a larger expansion plan, whose production outcome remains ahead.

Updated Oct 11, 202612 sources3 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

Utah’s finances: falling debt, substantial reserves and pressure beneath the totals

Utah has built financial cushions and paid down bonds. A review of its state accounts also finds slower growth in budget balances, a sharp preliminary drop in corporate taxes and financial controls that auditors said needed repair.

Updated Oct 11, 202625 sources3 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

UTOPIA’s growing fiber network and the debt its cities still carry

Utah’s open-access fiber system has added customers and its financing partner has improved. The original agency’s obligations to bondholders and cities remain a separate part of the recovery story.

Updated Oct 11, 202610 sources3 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

What the Kalamazoo Promise changed for students

Anonymous donors made college tuition a place-based promise in 2005. Studies found more credentials, but the employment evidence is mixed, and the offer continues to expand.

Updated Oct 11, 202610 sources3 versions

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

Bitcoin: how the network moves value, and where its guarantees end

Bitcoin’s transaction rules and declining issuance schedule are separate from the price of its coins, the profitability of mining and the safety of a custody business.

Updated Oct 11, 20268 sources2 versions

Interest Rates & Fixed IncomeResearch Lab

Callable corporate bonds: the price of getting repaid early

An issuer can repay some bonds before maturity. Call dates, make-whole formulas and the investor’s purchase price determine whether that early repayment preserves value or cuts short an attractive coupon.

Updated Oct 11, 20264 sources2 versions

Cards & Consumer LendingResearch Lab

Card rewards: what happens between earning a point and redeeming it

Rewards create a promise to the cardholder, a cost for the issuer and sometimes revenue for a travel partner. Those flows arrive at different times, which is why more points or more spending does not automatically mean more profit.

Updated Oct 11, 20263 sources3 versions

Business Models & StrategyResearch Lab

Cash-flow statements: following the money behind reported profit

A distributor can earn $100 million but generate only $85 million of operating cash. Following collections, inventory, equipment and borrowing explains the gap and reconciles the year’s closing cash balance.

Updated Oct 11, 20263 sources2 versions

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

Closed-end funds: why a rising portfolio can leave shareholders behind

A listed fund has both a portfolio value and a market price. Discounts, financing costs and cash distributions can push those two experiences in different directions.

Updated Oct 11, 20265 sources2 versions

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

Covered-call funds: what the monthly cash payment leaves out

An option premium buys a limited cushion against losses by selling some future gains. Fund structure, market path and tax treatment determine what remains after the distributions.

Updated Oct 11, 202620 sources2 versions

Macroeconomics & Public FinanceResearch Lab

CPI and PCE: why two inflation measures can tell different stories

Two agencies can observe the same price changes and report different inflation rates. Coverage, spending weights and formulas explain the gap, while neither national average reproduces every household’s bills.

Updated Oct 11, 20264 sources2 versions

Equities, Derivatives & FundsResearch Lab

Crypto ETPs: what changes when a coin becomes a brokerage holding

Spot trusts, futures funds and exchange-traded notes can follow the same market through different legal claims, custody arrangements and return calculations.

Updated Oct 11, 202612 sources2 versions

Interest Rates & Fixed IncomeResearch Lab

Currency forwards: fixing an exchange rate without fixing every risk

A forward can lock the dollar cost of a euro payment. Interest-rate differences, the cross-currency basis and settlement terms explain its price, while mismatched amounts or dates can leave substantial risks behind.

Updated Oct 11, 20263 sources2 versions

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