Write-Offs: 03.21.12
$$$In stress tests, Fed may have inflated grades for TARP banks [Term Sheet]
$$$Goldman loses bid to dismiss Hudson CDO lawsuit [Reuters]
$$$Bulge bracket banks get bidders better mergers than lower tier banks [Journal of Finance via Free Exchange]
$$$ "My proudest moments in life — laying a plastic egg in Johannesberg, my LGTB teen awareness work with Bert, becoming Gonzo's 539th domestic partner — have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. With its cheap efforts to turn Gen X parents misty with sentimentality, the Muppets just doesn’t feel right to me anymore. I'm no Chicken Little — if things don't change soon, the sky will indeed be falling." Why I Am Leaving the Muppets [The Awl]
$$$ Good with numbers? A top-tier investment bank is looking to hire five quants for a centralized research division [DBCC]
$$$ECB eyes exit for €40bn crisis fund [FT]
$$$Bernanke: Stress Tests Showed Banks Aren’t Hiding Potential Huge Losses [Real Time Economics]
$$$ "No longer do I arrive at my desk at the crack of dawn to mindlessly enter bond yields into a convoluted spreadsheet. No one tells me that my Banana Republic cardigan is too fashion-forward for the office. No longer does a superior tell me that I leave the desk to pee too many times during the day." Investment banking in Canada is different. [Globe & Mail]
$$$ Tim Tebow was traded to the Jets, maybe [NYP]