UBS Posts Highest Quarterly Earnings in Almost Three Years on Debt Trading (Bloomberg)
UBS said pretax profit was at least 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($2.4 billion) in the first-quarter, the highest level since the second quarter of 2007.
NY State Sees “Deep Well” Of UBS Client Tax Cases (Reuters)
New York state could glean considerable sums from UBS clients who have evaded taxes by hiding money in offshore accounts once the federal government starts handing over its data to the states, a New York state tax official said. “That’s really a deep well and I expect we’ll be digging in that well for some time,” William Comiskey, New York State Tax Department’s Deputy Commissioner for enforcement, told Reuters.
BlueGold Beats Average Hedge Fund With 12.5% Return (BW)
BlueGold Capital Management LLP, the energy hedge fund manager overseeing $1.7 billion in assets, returned 12.5 percent to investors in March, more than four times the gain of the average hedge fund.
Light At The End Of The Bailout Tunnel (WSJ)
Great news, this thing is only costing $89 billion.
Soros Warns Europe Of Disintegration (FT)
“It is 50-50 whether the eurozone breaks up. The damage that break up would cause is so great, that I think that as people realise it, they will pull back from the brink,” Soros told the Financial Times in an interview. “But we are at the brink now…a solution has to be found in a matter of days.”
Executives Say Competition Drove Fannie To Brink (NYT)
In testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Robert J. Levin, Fannie’s former chief business officer, said that Fannie risked losing its “relevance” in the market if it didn’t ply in riskier mortgages.
Is Taiwan’s male “Whitney Houston” the next Susan Boyle? (Reuters)
“Close your eyes and tell me — have you forgotten you’re listening to a reality show and started to think you’re hearing “The Bodyguard”,” wrote CNN’s news blog editor Mallory Simon about Lin’s performance.
Krugman: Georgia On My Mind (NYT)
As we look for ways to prevent future financial crises, many questions should be asked. Here’s one you may not have heard: What’s the matter with Georgia?
AIG, Goldman Unwind Soured Trades (WSJ)
AIGFP currently has roughly 14,400 outstanding derivative trades on interest rates, currencies, bonds and other instruments, down from as many as 44,000 at the unit before September 2008. The notional value of the remaining derivatives is about $770 billion, down from more than $2 trillion, said a person familiar with the matter.
Hire Me! James Lardizzone rose from mailroom to Merrill Lynch, but now is jobless (NYDN)
Who’s going to give this guy a gig?
Krugman article on Georgia banking crisis a hoot…. Seems to take some of the wind out of the sails of the current arguments about big banks being at the root of the crisis… worth a look.
“Close your eyes and tell me — have you forgotten you’re listening to a reality show and started to think you’re hearing “The Bodyguard”,” wrote CNN’s news blog editor Mallory Simon about Lin’s performance.
Ex-Goldman trader blows whistle on silver and gold manipulation by JPMorgan, HSBC – NYPOST.com
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/metal_are_in_the_pits_2arTlGNbMK7mb1uJeVHb0O
Fun, fun, fun.
is the ubs guy on vacation?
Duh of the day!
A federal investigation into the collapse of Washington Mutual found that the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. failed in their oversight of the bank. The inquiry found that WaMu failed “because of management’s pursuit of a high-risk lending strategy that included liberal underwriting standards and inadequate risk controls.” The New York Times
@5 (Tax Chick) It’s a promising start but the day’s not over yet.
@Infinite – fair enough. We will see how the day plays out.
@4 Sorry I’m late.
UBS sucks.