What’s zero divided by four? Continue reading »
Archive for February 2011
JPMorgan Thinks Credit Suisse Did A Pretty Poor Job Capitalizing On The Financial Crisis
By Bess LevinAs you know, there are two types of financial services organizations- those that emerged from the financial crisis as winners (John Paulson comes to mind) and those that did not (a category that would include firms like Lehman Brothers, if you want to get really judgey). Where did Credit Suisse fall? JPMorgan has some thoughts. Continue reading »
Greenwich High School Girl/Mark Sanchez Gal-Pal Eliza Kruger Had Help Reeling In The Jets QB
By Bess Levin
Her mom. Continue reading »
YOU BLEW IT! Continue reading »
Current vice-president Omar Suleiman will take over the presidency, sources said. [CNBC]
Which ‘Very Powerful, Highly Respected Banker’ Did Donald Trump Allegedly Have To Carry Out Of The Waldorf Because He Was So Hammered?
By Bess Levin
Here’s what the Don said last night on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” when asked about mingling with sauced up members of the business community:
“There’s a banker — and obviously I’m not going to mention names…I’ll never forget a very respected banker, highly respected. And he was making a speech at the Waldorf Astoria. And he was very tipsy, very — and shortly thereafter, he was just totally stone cold drunk. There were probably 2,000 people, 1,500 people at this dinner. It was a very big event. And we carried him out on his back. We carried him out literally on his back and — And I never felt the same way about him.
Trump went on to say he can’t even look at the guy anymore and that he’s “lost all respect” for him. Choking back tears**, Trump wouldn’t say who his fallen hero is or if he had to hold the guy’s hair back as he vomited on the street corner but he did offer one more clue. Continue reading »
Bernanke Tries To Soothe GOP (WSJ)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sought to reassure wary Republicans that he won’t allow inflation to take root, though he gave no indication that he is ready to reverse his easy-money policies. “We do not now have a problem,” Mr. Bernanke said amid repeated questions about inflation from lawmakers during an appearance before the House Budget Committee on Wednesday.
Kynikos’ Jim Chanos says he’s shorting Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell (CNBC)
FYI.
Jim Chanos: Big Misconception That Chinese Government Can Do What It Wants (Benzinga)
“There’s this big misconception there that the Chinese government can do what it wants,” Chanos said, on CNBC this morning. “The Chinese banking system is expanding to do this.” Chanos said that China’s credit expansion is much worse than that of the United States. Construction currently makes up 70% of the Chinese economy. They’re building 25 million new homes. At its peak in the U.S., construction only made up 16% of the economy. “The real estate in China is approaching the scary numbers [that Japan and Ireland] saw,” Chanos said. “One of the fascinating things about Chinese market…there isn’t much resale market. If you try to sell your condo China, you can’t. Everyone wants new.”
Carlos Slim Sees Colombia Ascending as Choice in Commodity Boom (Bloomberg)
Commodity prices are surging as emerging markets such as China and India require more resources to accommodate the needs and wishes of their growing middle classes for infrastructure and consumer goods, according to Slim. The depreciating value of the dollar is also driving those countries’ governments to build up their investments in commodities, he said. “They don’t want to have Treasuries,” Slim said. “The dollar is weak and there’s no interest, and also with commodities they have reserves for internal consumption.”
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fell 36,000 to 383,000 Last Week (Bloomberg)
“The labor market is improving,” said Brian Jones, an economist at Societe Generale in New York who projected claims would drop to 385,000. “Fingers crossed, if the weather can hold off this week, we should get a pretty decent snap back in non-farm payrolls and maybe another drop in the jobless rate.”
Twitter’s Suitors Talk In Billions (Reuters)
Discussions with at least some potential suitors have produced an estimated valuation of $8 billion to $10 billion.
Credit Suisse Cuts Forecast (WSJ)
Credit Suisse also said its investment banking and private-banking businesses held up well during a lackluster fourth quarter for the banking sector and gave a positive outlook for this year. Revenues were 6.96 billion Swiss francs ($6.67 billion) in the fourth quarter, up 11% on the third quarter, while they stood at 30.63 billion francs for the full year, down 9% from 2009. Net profit for the full year, however, fell 24%, partly due to the swoon in the investment-banking business last year and sluggish client activity in the private bank.
SEC Probes ETF Use in Disguising Insider Trading (FT)
ETFs have emerged as a possible mechanism for maximizing gains in one stock while potentially masking trading patterns, people familiar with the matter say. In one scenario, a trader could learn information about a company, buy an ETF that includes the company’s stock, and short sell the other stocks in the ETF.
The Groupon Clipper (TIME)
Founder Andrew Mason says he’s had better ideas than Groupon. “To me, as somebody who likes to come up with ideas, it’s kind of stupid,” he explains. “Like, I’ve had way better ideas, way cooler ideas.” Continue reading »
$$$ Bernanke Says Unemployment Will `Remain Elevated‘ [Bloomberg]
$$$ RBS said Wednesday Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester is to receive a £2.04 million bonus for 2010 performance. RBS said the payout will be entirely in shares that don’t fully vest until 2014 and that Mr. Hester’s £1.2 million salary will remain unchanged this year. He could have received as much as £2.4 million as a 2010 bonus under the terms of his contract. [WSJ]
$$$ Canadian Mayor Has Won More Facebook Scrabble Games Than Anyone Else
[Daily Intel] Continue reading »
He’ll be giving it his best shot in “Arbitrage,” in which he plays an “evil” investor “desperate to sell his firm to a major bank before his fraud can be uncovered” (in a role that originally went to Al Pacino). On cautiously optimistic side, he probably couldn’t do any worse than all of the characters in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps combined. OR COULD HE? [FINalternatives]
Amy with husband #2
First off, do you know what an “office spouse” is? If not, the Journal offers a definition today, in a piece exploring whether or not it’s appropriate to buy this person a Valentine’s Day gift. An office husband or wife, they say, is a member of the opposite sex with whom you have a close relationship with at work, so close that it resembles a marriage but it’s entirely platonic. This is not someone you’re having an affair with on the side and in fact, your real husband, wife or significant other likely knows your office mate and is cool with the situation. Take Amy McMahon. She has a boyfriend of ten years, Casey Hoover, and she also has a office bf/husb/whatever you want to call him of three years, Kian Weaver. As they are are her number one guys at home and at work, respectively, she’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day with both of them. Is that awkward? Supposedly not! In fact, Casey claims to love the set up. Continue reading »
Julian Assange: The BofA Documents I’ve Been Threatening To Take The Bank Down By Releasing Might Not Actually Be A Big Deal At All
By Bess Levin
Almost two months ago, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said that he had information on Bank of America that was so damning it could “take the company down.” At the time, some wondered what Assanage could possibly reveal that would embarrass the bank more than it had already embarrassed itself but figured, hey, he’s gotta have something otherwise why the big sell? So where’s he been with it? Stalling for time and riding high on the build up. Perhaps realizing the jig was up, Assange has now told people he doesn’t actually know if the information he’s got on BAC is in anyway scandalous or even newsworthy. Continue reading »
