Morgan Stanley Swings To Second Quarter Profit
(MarketWatch)
The bank said earnings for the quarter came in at $1.58 billion, or $1.09 a share, compared to a loss of $1.26 billion, or $1.10 a share, in the year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, profit in the latest quarter was $1.44 billion, or 80 cents a share. Quarterly net revenue at Morgan Stanley rose to $7.95 billion, up 53% from a year earlier.
Wells Fargo Earnings Rise 12% (WSJ)
The company reported a profit of $2.88 billion, or 55 cents a share, compared with $2.58 billion, or 57 cents a share, a year earlier. Shares outstanding rose 17%. Revenue declined 5% to $21.39 billion.
Tiger Management Sowing Seeds Of Growth (WSJ)
Julian Robertson is considering reopening Tiger, a launching pad for young money managers, to the outside world. Mr. Robertson has beefed up Tiger’s management ranks as part of a potential expansion that could involve creating a “seeding” fund or a fund of hedge funds for outside investors. In a seeding fund, Tiger would allow outside clients to come in alongside Mr. Robertson and his team to help fund new or early-stage hedge-fund managers in exchange for a slice of their business. A more-common fund of funds would collect outside investors’ money and dole it out to Tiger-seeded managers, who would in turn invest it. This month, Mr. Robertson hired a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, John L. Townsend III, as operations chief, and promoted the youngest of his three sons, Alex Robertson, to managing partner.
Mafia Money-Laundering Profits Swell in Credit Crisis (Bloomberg)
“The crisis has given organized crime room to thrive because access to credit has become more difficult,” said Anna Maria Tarantola, the central bank’s deputy general director, in a July 12 interview in her Rome office. “Whoever holds large amounts of cash, like crime groups, can make investments that aren’t possible for others. They can now invest in fully legal businesses.” Organized crime groups boosted their revenue by 4 percent to 135 billion euros ($174.6 billion) last year, according to estimates from Rome-based anti-racketeering group SOS Impresa. Continue reading »
$$$ Matthew Goldstein: “Jason Ader, a former hot-shot casino industry analyst turned wealthy hedge fund manager, is rolling the dice, hoping to become a community banker in Las Vegas.” [Reuters]
$$$ The Perfect M&A Resume [FINS]
$$$ Fannie Mae Employees Received 153 VIP Loans [WSJ]
$$$ Playboy Launches New Safe For Work Website, Which Reportedly Blows [CNBC]
Jamie and Lloyd weren’t invited (not that they’d slum it at something like this anyway), and James Gorman, Robert Wolf, Brian Moynihan and Bob Diamond declined to attend having other plans but Vikram will be there, Mr. President! With bells on! Continue reading »
According to Charlie Gasparino, execs at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citi should gird their loins for the Compensation Cop to either announce that he’ll be clawing back their hard earned bonuses or to admit that he was just messing around, though they should really have seen the looks on their faces when they thought he might be serious.
Tonight is the annual Corporate Challenge Boxing tournament, and beyond the fact that the event is for charity, $55 seems like a pretty reasonable fee to be at least mildly amused at the sight of your “colleagues” taking to the ring. Some of the participants include the son of a former Vice-President and a couple of chicks as well. The latter would be Al Gore’s boy, Albert Gore Jr of Strategic Capital Partners, who weighs in at 200 lbs. He’ll be fighting a guy whose nickname is “The Carnivore,” (real name: Ken Cunningham, of Oppenheimer). Also putting on the gloves tonight is a guy who’s asked to be referred to as “Yellow Fever.” Continue reading »
This is the list of IR ladies. Read it and let us know what you think, but in doing so, try not to be so much, what’s the word? Like yourselves. Continue reading »
Goldman Sachs Reports 2010 Second Quarter Earnings Per Common Share of $0.78. Excluding the Impact of the U.K. Bank Payroll Tax and the SEC Settlement, Earnings Per Common Share were $2.75. (GS)
Revenue of $8.84 billion, conference call at 11am.
Fabrice Tourre Denies Charges (WSJ)
The 31-year-old Goldman vice president, in a court filing late Monday in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s complaint, said that he can’t be held responsible for “for any alleged failings” made by the firm. Mr. Tourre said he was simply doing his job. “The purported claims against Mr. Tourre and the allegations upon which they are based are improperly vague, ambiguous and confusing, and omit critical facts,” according to the 13-page response. “The purported claims against Mr. Tourre are based solely on alleged actions and omissions concerning information known to many different Goldman Sachs employees working in various aspects of its business, including Legal, Compliance, sales and trading.”
BNY Mellon, State Street Report Higher Earnings (Reuters)
Bank of New York Mellon reported second-quarter profit attributable to shareholders of $658 million, or 54 cents a share, up from $176 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 3 percent to $3.3 billion. State Street said earnings on an operating basis climbed to $464 million from $441 million a year earlier, as earnings per share rose to 93 cents from 89 cents.
Pimco Sells Black Swan Protection as Wall Street Markets Fear (Bloomberg)
Pimco, Deutsche Bank and Citi are among firms offering clients tail-risk protection, either through funds or traded instruments that act as hedges. Nassim Taleb said few will have the stomach to stick with the strategy. “They will drop like flies,” said Taleb. “They and their customers will give up at some point. I’ve seen it before.”
Mega Banks Pressure Smaller Players (WSJ)
Bank of America, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, which hold about $3.50 of every $10 in local deposits, are “squeezing” and “hoarding” customers “any way they can,” says Jeff Wagner, chief financial officer at Florida Business Bank. Corporate customers are being told by the biggest lenders not to move their deposits to other banks or else they might not get a new loan, he says. Continue reading »
$$$ With a sharp wit and a sharper tongue, Mr. Hendry, a plain-spoken Scot, has positioned himself as the public contrarian thinker of this city’s very private hedge fund community. The euro? It’s finished, Mr. Hendry proclaims. China? Headed for a fall. President Obama? “If there was a way to short Obama, I would,” Mr. Hendry said. [NYT]
$$$ When Volcker reached his office the next morning he learned that Dodd and Frank had agreed overnight to drop some of the restrictions in the compromise proposal, including the dollar limit on hedge-fund investments. “ ‘Shock’ is too strong a word,” Volcker recalled. “But I was disappointed.” [New Yorker] Continue reading »
