On the surface, the only thing they have in common is the hair color, the birth in a foreign land, and the first name, Anna. But, you know, anything is possible and should it turn out that this girl is the new AC, you’re gonna want to be up to speed on what she’s all about. Anna Fermanova, 24, was held up by agents at JKF, who took issue with the fact that she was allegedly trying to smuggle a “$7,000 Raptor 4X night-vision weapons sight and two other $4,000 devices” out of the country, which you’re not allowed to do. She’ll be charged with “attempting to export the devices, which are considered US munitions,” and is not only denying the spy label, but claiming to find this whole thing pants-pissingly funny, making her all the more suspect. Continue reading »
Archive for July 2010
As we mentioned last week, in the wake of the GLG buy, things are not looking so good inside Man Group. Redemptions are “mounting,” bonus outlook is bad to very bad and employees are making a dash for the exits. Today Financial News confirms the departures of 8 of the 15 front office employees who’ve taken off. Continue reading »
Is there nothing this woman can’t do? The answer is no. Whether it’s playing soccer in jewels, teaching a pig how to play the piano, demonstrating “school-girl chic,” keeping a hockey player happy, dressing herself while inebriated, attending galas on crutches, shoe shopping with a broken foot, dancing her ass off, and or producing an “emotionally touching” film, this chick does it all. Next, I say Phil gives her a shot at her own portfolio. Unless of course he’s threatened by her presumably formidable market savvy. [Hamptons]
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Communiqués
What Does Bill Gross Think About On The Can? He’s Happy You Asked
By Bess Levin
Whether or not you wanted to know, the PIMCO founder has chosen to devote the first half (that’s 512 words) of August’s Outlook to the matter. Specifically, the indignity of the automatic flush. In related news, perhaps this would be a good time for PIMCO investors to start considering finding another person to manage their bond investments? Take it away, Bill:
I write this month to condemn the inventor of the electronic “seeing eye” toilet. Yes, that’s right, I’m talking toilets here, doo-doo-stuff, some of which I hopefully won’t step in myself over the next few paragraphs. I know there must be more substantive and less objectionable topics to bring before you, but I have a sense that many of you joint me in spirit if not common experience and so I devote this month’s Outlook to another trivial snippet emphasizing our joint humanity and sense of loss due to the recent disappearance of the hand flusher.
I don’t know where it is located exactly, but there’s an electronic eye in the plumbing of public toilets these days that can sense when you get up and down (or is it down and up) and are finally finished with your “business,” if you get my drift. My doctor says a proctology exam is a necessary evil but cameras in toilets? Never having seen myself from this particular angle, it is particularly embarrassing to turn over the assignment to camera and in effect say, “Snap away– see anything that doesn’t look right?” I figure if there’s an eye in there, then there could also be a little voice that says, “Have a seat,” which of course I do, usually with much haste and a sense that I’d better get on with it before I attract a crowd.
In announcing that Albany would not go ahead with the proposed plan to tax New York-based hedge fund managers who live out of state, David Paterson probably thought he was taking the wind out of Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell’s sails. Rell had previously invited a group of investing professionals to a “personal dinner” in Darien at which, she wrote breathlessly, they would have “much to discuss.” Well David thought wrong. Despite not really having anything to talk about anymore re: “how much New York sucks” and how “CT will treat you fellas right,” the dinner is reportedly still on and not just that, but Tim Selby, president of the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable has chosen to throw Jodi a bone and RSVP yes. “The governor was kind enough to extend the invitation and I think we would be remiss to not meet with her to hear what she has to say.”
Say what you will about Sumner Redstone (that he should be forced into retirement, that his mangled finger will haunt your dreams), but the guy knows how to have a good time. First off, he’s apparently “in the middle of a firestorm for his insistence that MTV create a reality-show about his favorite raunchy, all-girl band, The Electric Barbarellas.” And second, he forced Showtime execs to give a chick he’d met on the LA club scene and “went out with on at least two occasions” any job she wanted, in addition to gifting her with a bunch of Viacom stock.
Showtime executives “at first tried to find something industrious for her to do,” the source said, adding that after a rotation in casting, programming, and other departments within the network, Singh landed in publicity, in part because her best asset is her ability to party.
Merrill Lynch Banker And Colleagues May Serve Time For Playing Texas Hold ‘Em In Hong Kong
By Bess LevinApparently that is wrong in HK, and they should not have done that. What they should have done was either a) take the ferry to Macau, “the Vegas of Asia,” or b) done some horse betting, which is cool with the authorities. Continue reading »
Obama To Test Wall Street Ties (WSJ)
Both of tonight’s New York City fundraisers are both sold out, planners said. But antipathy toward the Democrats will limit the number of events in New York, said one long-time Democratic fund-raiser. This person said he tried to recruit Wall Street figures to attend one of this week’s events and found that many were uninterested or wanted to go so they could complain to the president.
Citigroup May Move Prop Traders to Hedge Funds for Volcker Rule (Bloomberg)
Traders in the Citi Principal Strategies unit, led by Sutesh Sharma, would be reassigned to Citi Capital Advisors, which mostly oversees money for outside investors, said the people, speaking anonymously because the talks are preliminary. The bank would set up the traders as hedge-fund managers and seed their funds, then raise money from outside investors to redeem its stakes, the people said.
In Study, 2 Economists Say Intervention Helped Avert a 2nd Depression (NYT)
In a new paper, by Alan S. Blinder, a Princeton professor and former vice chairman of the Fed, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, the economists argue that without the Wall Street bailout, the bank stress tests, the emergency lending and asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, and the Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus program, the nation’s gross domestic product would be about 6.5 percent lower this year. In addition, there would be about 8.5 million fewer jobs, on top of the more than 8 million already lost; and the economy would be experiencing deflation, instead of low inflation.
Goldman Already Step Ahead Of FinReg (FBN)
The bank has moved about half of its prop trading operations into its asset management division, where these traders can talk to Goldman clients and then place their market bets. Other Wall Street firms are watching Goldman’s moves closely and are considering similar measures. “If these traders become more client focused they can survive,” said a senior executive at one of the big banks.
Tiger Club’s U.S. Millionaires Pounce on Berkshire’s 19% Return (Bloomberg)
Members of New York-based Tiger 21 picked Berkshire as their top stock in a survey of preferred investments because they like Buffett’s strategy of buying companies, according to Michael Sonnenfeldt, a founder of Tiger 21, which is an investment club of 140 members, most of whom have a net worth of at least $10 million, totaling more than $10 billion in collective assets. “No one wants to be a stock picker, but if they are, they’re going to back someone who has essentially created his wealth through buying stock,” said Sonnenfeldt.
Moody’s: BofA, Citi, Wells Fargo Outlook Negative (Reuters)
“Over the next 12 to 24 months … we expect that our support assumptions for systemically important banks will likely revert to pre-crisis, or even lower, levels—though we do not anticipate that we would completely eliminate support from these firms’ senior debt and deposit ratings,” Moody’s said.
Soros set to buy stake in Bombay exchange (FT)
Soros Fund Management is planning to pay about $40m for its stake, valuing Asia’s oldest bourse at about $1bn, said a person involved in the negotiations. Continue reading »
$$$ The hospitality of Wall Streeters has helped a pair of New Zealanders overcome thunderstorms and a broken-down van on their quest to play golf at a different course every day for an entire year.
$$$ The Hypocrisy Of Dodd-Frank’s Million Dollar Fraud Bounty [CNBC]
$$$ Christie Brinkley has an “extremely optimistic” view of the Hamptons housing market. [WSJ] Continue reading »
“Don’t go expecting a movie that will give you some great intellectual or emotional insights into the Wall Street crisis. Sure, there are the obligatory “life on the trading floor” scenes and quasi-faithful recreations of arguments between Treasury and Wall Street at the oak-paneled New York Fed. And there are lots of cameos of CNBC anchors and Nouriel Roubini (as “Dr. Hashimi”) to give the movie “authenticity.” But the authenticity is as phony as Bernie Madoff’s investment returns. How many Fordham-educated prop traders with the last name “Moore” speak fluent Mandarin?” [WSJ via BI]
The following post is by Dealbreaker reader and commenter Infinite Guest.
Laws go unenforced for any of several superficially distinct reasons, but ultimately because of political failure. Mostly a reiteration of desuetudinal laws, Dodd-Frank seems deliberately written so that it can’t be enforced. Dodd-Frank is a gigantic recipe for political failure. Continue reading »
