It seems that California biopharma company Immunosyn has been a little more optimistic about the prospects for its blockbuster drug than would be warranted by the facts. Specifically facts such as (1) the FDA has blocked clinical trials in the U.S., (2) there are no clinical trials likely elsewhere, and (3) it’s made out of goat blood.
Archive for August 2011
Seriously, he’s taking bets.
Is Jon S. Corzine on the short list to replace Timothy F. Geithner as Treasury secretary?
A preliminary prospectus filed on Tuesday by MF Global, where Mr. Corzine, the former Democratic governor and senator from New Jersey is now chief executive, suggests that just may be a possibility.
MF Global is planning to sell five-year notes on Tuesday with an unusual twist: the notes will pay an extra 1 percent in the interest rate “upon the departure of Mr. Corzine as our full time chief executive officer due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States and confirmation of that appointment by the United States Senate prior to July 1, 2013,” according to the offering. The higher possible rate reflects how important investors consider Mr. Corzine to be to MF’s prospects and pays them taking the risk that he might leave.
Also it reflects information asymmetry! If Corzine were seriously planning to go to Washington wouldn’t MF not offer to pay an extra 100bps on its debt when he leaves? Continue reading »
As many of you know, though there are tremendous benefits to be gained from taking a public company, there are also serious downsides to consider, like unwanted scrutiny of your business practices. While executives at Dunkin’ Brands were probably pretty pleased with last week’s opening day pop, the IPO has presented some problems for the branch office employees who’ve been using the pastry purveyor as a front for the real goods they’re selling: ass-play and hand jobs via the mouth. Continue reading »
Do you like Phil Collins? Do you wish you could get customized business cards in “bone”? Do you tell people that you specialize in “murders and executions” when you’re actually in trade settlement? Of course you do. And oh boy do we have your weekend planned out for you:
Continue reading »
This much he promises you:
The debt ceiling may have been raised and the palpable sighs of relief heard across global financial markets, but the fun times are over. They’ll be no jokes from Bill Gross today, nor across this land for years to come I suspect. Even though the U.S. has managed to avert a debt crisis and perhaps a ratings downgrade, there remains a stain on our reputation, a scarlet “A” for budgetary “Abuse,” that will not disappear.
Not only is he unhappy about the fact that the debt deal makes no real cuts; he’s also concerned about the people who think they’ll be getting Medicare some day:
The press and most professional investors are accustomed to measuring “paper” debt as opposed to walking/living liabilities in the form of people. I call these liabilities “debt men walking” because as long as 330 million living Americans require promised entitlements – the $66 trillion that wear shoes are as much of a liability as the $10 trillion on paper.
The $66 trillion comes from the Mary Meeker “USA Inc.” study from earlier this year, which finds that unfunded Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid liabilities total $66 trillion at net present value.* BusinessWeek this week used a perpetuity estimate and got an even more alarming $211 trillion for our total fiscal gap. The difference in those figures might give you pause about how real either of them is – as might the fact that BW’s estimate is about $640,000 for every man woman and child alive in America today – and Gross acknowledges that even Meeker’s lower $66 trillion is likely to turn out to be lower if we take steps to rein in costs. Still, those shoe-wearing liabilities look to be a multiple of the public debt that politicians have spent the last oh forever fighting about. Continue reading »
Are you anticipating being having your email shut off, desk cleared out, and greeted with a look of no recognition from your office security guard when you attempt to get into the building any time soon? Or perhaps preparing for a bonus that “entitles you to two free back rubs” from your direct report? Want to take this year’s comp into your own hands by robbing a bank but lent out your disguises to a friend exploring roleplaying? It’s all good. Take a page from this chick’s playabook. Continue reading »
Junior mistmakers at the House of Dimon received their numbers yesterday afternoon. Continue reading »
The bank will continue what is started earlier this year. Continue reading »
Barclays Profit Falls On Payouts Over Complaints (MarketWatch)
Barclays aid Tuesday its first-half pretax profit fell 33% as it set aside GBP1 billion to compensate customers who bought faulty insurance products and amid a sharp decline in revenue at its key investment banking unit. The U.K.-based bank posted pretax profit for the six months to June 30 of GBP2.64 billion, compared with GBP3.95 billion a year earlier. Net profit was GBP1.50 billion, down from GBP2.43 billion. However, the bank’s bad debts fell and costs were kept in check, with impairment charges falling to GBP1.83 billion, from GBP3.08 billion a year earlier, while the group’s adjusted cost-to-income ratio improved to 64%.
Putin Says US Is ‘Parasite’ On Global Economy (Reuters)
“They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy,” Putin told the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi while touring its lakeside summer camp some five hours drive north of Moscow. “They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar,” Putin said at the open-air meeting with admiring young Russians in what looked like early campaigning before parliamentary and presidential polls.
Debt Deal Puts US On Austerity Path As Economy Falters (Bloomberg)
A deal struck over the weekend to cut $2.4 trillion or more off budget deficits over a decade marks the beginning of a prolonged effort to put the government’s finances into better shape. While the immediate economic impact from the agreement is likely to be small, it will add to a reduction in growth next year of 1.5 percentage points coming from the expiration of past stimulus programs, according to economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank Securities. “Over the next 10 years, there will be further spending cuts and higher taxes, and that’s not good for economic growth,” said Paul Dales, senior economist for Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto. “It is the start of a meaningful move toward fiscal consolidation.”
Fed May Weigh More Stimulus on Flagging Recovery (Bloomberg)
“At a minimum, the FOMC will have a serious debate about the policy options — what they should do, and what they expect to get from it,” said Roberto Perli, a former associate director in the Fed’s Division of Monetary Affairs, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee. “Growth in the first half was dangerously close to zero,” said Perli, director of policy research at International Strategy & Investment Group.
In this dire economy, even the Tooth Fairy is pinching pennies (CNN)
A recent survey found that the national going rate has seen a 40-cent decline this year: From $3 to $2.60. What’s worse? A full 10% of kids are reaching under their pillows … and coming up empty. Compare that to last year when just 6% of kids found no reason to flash that toothless grin. “It’s a cardinal sin not to (pay),” said Rakshanda Liaqat, a mother of two in Phoenix. “It’s about a child losing a part of her and the warm belief that the tooth fairy will take care of her precious tooth.” “Now, on the other hand, counting the number of teeth your kid loses. And that, too, multiple times in a year? And that, too, having two kids? I can understand the economic recession the Tooth Fairy goes through in terms of her salary.” Liaqat tried to leave $10 for every tooth her son lost — “but my son didn’t lose much of his teeth after the recession hit.” “He lost it right on time. Before the debt crisis,” she said. “Amen to that!!” Continue reading »
$$$ Uneasy House Okays Debt Deal (WSJ)
$$$ “Reid also said there would still be a need for a comprehensive approach to narrowing the yawning US budget deficit — ‘not only yes, but hell yes‘– and stressed that Washington must move to a jobs agenda.” (AP)
$$$ Meredith Whitney: Signs Of A Double Dip Have Emerged (CNBC)
$$$ “One JP Morgan Chase boss regularly lends his number two his Porsche for the weekend so the junior can impress at social occasions – weddings, visits from his French girlfriend etc. Disaster struck, however, when the trader got so drunk one weekend that he lost all his personal possessions: phone, wallet… and the keys to his boss’s car.” (CityAM) Continue reading »
