Much has been made of the supposed falling out between President Obama and Wall Street since he was elected. What started out as beautiful bromance quickly appeared to devolve into public insults and both sides saying stuff like “he never mattered that much to me,” when you know such was not the case. Many have wondered if the anti-business rhetoric will drive the executives into the arms of another man. Apparently the answer is no. While some wounds are still open and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in order for everyone to trust each other with his heart, it’s at least looking like they still want to be together. Continue reading »
Archive for November 2010
Both Parties Play the Wall Street Card, Sometimes From the Bottom of the Deck (NYT)
The anger over TARP is so fierce that at least seven first-term House Democrats — Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania, Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio, Frank Kratovil Jr. of Maryland, Betsy Markey of Colorado, Glenn Nye of Virginia, Mark Schauer of Michigan and Dina Titus of Nevada — have claimed in ads that they voted against bailing out Wall Street, even though they did not take office until January 2009. That was nearly three months after President Bush signed the bailout legislation into law…“Anger at Wall Street is the highest since the early and mid-1930s,” said Charles R. Geisst, a finance professor at Manhattan College and an authority on the history of Wall Street. “That anger remained until the 1950s, when the postwar prosperity set in.”
BofA Tries To Untangle Mortgage Files (WSJ)
More than 85% of the bank’s 1.3 million mortgage customers now at least 60 days behind on their payments got their loans through Countrywide. The $4 billion deal also saddled Bank of America with technology problems, paperwork glitches and cultural tension. The servicing unit now has its fourth leader in roughly two years.
No Halloween At Hedge Fund Haven (Dealbook)
The stiffs in Paul Tudor Jones’ Belle Haven community made him cancel is annual Halloween party this year. The Christmas Extravaganza is presumably still on.
Risk Appetite Increasing: Investors Back in Stocks (FT)
Last week, $2.7 billion flowed into US equity funds and $840 million into European funds, according to EPFR, a data provider. Separate data from the Investment Company Institute showed net flows of cash into equities in the past two weeks for the first time in six months. “Investors are maybe reaching a tipping point,” said Brad Durham, EPFR’s managing director. “They are feeling perhaps that enough is enough with the bond flows and are starting to take on a bit more exposure to risk.”
Goldman Sachs Losing Edge in Fixed-Income Trading as Risk Falls (Bloomberg)
The company’s share of fixed-income trading revenue at eight of the largest U.S. and European banks slipped to 19 percent in the third quarter from a peak of 29 percent in the last three months of 2009.. The gap between industry leader Goldman Sachs and its nearest rival narrowed to $239 million in the quarter, the smallest amount since confidence in credit markets collapsed.
Man Group Sells AHL Fund to Retail Investors in Singapore (Bloomberg)
The firm is for the first time marketing to individual investors in Singapore a fund which uses computer programs to identify trades in futures markets. Singapore investors can put a minimum of S$20,000 ($15,503) in Man AHL Trend, said the London-based manager, which completed its acquisition of GLG Partners Inc. in October. AHL and other managed futures trading programs profited in 2008 as commodities such as crude oil rallied to records, and then collapsed.
Drug experts say alcohol worse than crack or heroin (Reuters)
And: Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists’ analysis. Continue reading »
