Wachovia Faces Civil Charges (WSJ)
The agency has focused on the amounts Wachovia charged investors for collateralized debt obligations, according to people familiar with the matter. SEC officials believe the Charlotte, N.C., bank applied excessive markups that didn’t reflect the diminishing value of the underlying loans, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mixed Signals Marked Sokol Meeting (WSJ)
It came as a “shock” to the Citigroup bankers when they learned Mr. Sokol bought roughly $240,000 of shares of Lubrizol Corp. a day after their meeting, sold them, and then purchased $10 million shares about two months before Berkshire’s $9 billion deal unveiled March 14 to acquire Lubrizol, according to people familiar with the matter. At that meeting, Mr. Sokol didn’t say he was personally interested in buying Lubrizol shares, the people said.
Blankfein Reaps $19 Million As Cash Bonuses Return To Wall Street (Bloomberg)
Blankfein’s pay included $5.4 million in cash, $12.6 million in restricted stock, a $600,000 salary and about $464,000 in other benefits, a proxy statement from the firm showed.
GE’s Immelt Defends Nuclear Industry (WSJ)
Immelt insisted Monday that the nuclear industry has had a “safe track record” without directly answering a question from reporters in Tokyo about GE’s potential liability as a manufacturer of three of the six reactors at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Wall Street Trading Revenue Seen Falling 4th Straight Quarter (Bloomberg)
A surge in market volatility following Japan’s worst earthquake on record and a jump in oil prices may not be enough to keep investment-banking and trading revenue from falling for a fourth consecutive quarter. Analysts have lowered first-quarter earnings estimates at the biggest U.S. banks, saying trading revenue won’t rebound as much as they had expected from a weak fourth quarter.
Nasdaq’s Greifeld May Inherit NYSE Floor He Sought to Bury (Bloomberg)
While Greifeld promised 74 percent more expense reductions than Deutsche Boerse, he said last week he wouldn’t close NYSE Euronext’s open-outcry auction venue, which has been the image of American capitalism for more than a century. The floor’s value in attracting new stock listings outweighs the cost and Nasdaq OMX would allow it to coexist with its electronic systems that have become a model for markets globally, brokerage executives and investors said. “The floor is an American icon, a global icon,” said Joseph Gawronski, chief operating officer at Rosenblatt Securities Inc., which employs about a dozen traders at the NYSE executing orders for institutions. “It’s a symbol of such importance that Greifeld might not be doing what would come naturally to him, cutting costs by shutting down the floor.
Tepco To Dump Radioactive Water In Sea To Keep Reactors Stable (Bloomberg)
“We didn’t have any other alternatives,” Edano told reporters in Tokyo today. “This is a measure we had to take to secure safety.”
Sheen Ticket Prices ‘Torpedoed’ After Motor City Show (CNBC)
After Sheen’s disastrous Detroit show, tickets have resold for as low as $9 on the website. Prior to his appearance in the Motor City, tickets were changing hands in the $90 range. Continue reading »
