Opening Bell: 08.21.12
Wall Street Is Leaderless In Fight Over Rules As Dimon Star Fades (Bloomberg)
“What you’re seeing in the financial-services industry is a lack of any kind of credible statesmen,” said Rakesh Khurana, a management professor at Harvard Business School in Boston. Dimon’s diminished ability to defend the industry publicly “basically leaves a vacuum,” he said. That means the industry is without an advocate to resist the most vigorous onslaught of regulations since Congress separated investment and commercial banking with the Glass- Steagall Act in 1933.
Buffett's Move Raises A Red Flag (WSJ)
The Omaha, Neb., company recently terminated credit-default swaps insuring $8.25 billion of municipal debt. The termination, disclosed in a quarterly filing with regulators this month, ended five years early a bullish bet that Mr. Buffett made before the financial crisis that more than a dozen U.S. states would keep paying their bills on time, according to a person familiar with the transaction.
Obama Adds Hedge Fund Bundlers (AR)
Several big new fundraisers and donors, like Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates, have joined the list of Obama boosters that inlucdes long-time Democratic donors David Shaw, founder of DE Shaw; Orin Kramer, of Boston Provident; Marc Lasary, of Avenue Capital; Eric Mindich, of Eton Park Capital; and Tom Steyer, of Farallon Capital Management.
Thiel Sells Large Facebook Stake (WSJ)
In a filing Monday, Mr. Thiel disclosed that he sold 20.1 million Facebook shares, and distributed another 2.2 million shares to investors, as part of a selling plan known as a 10b5-1 plan that he agreed to in May. The sales leave him with about 5.6 million shares. Mr. Thiel sold the most recent tranche of Facebook stock for an average of $19.73 a share late last week, netting him about $395.8 million. Had he sold the 20.1 million shares at the time of the IPO—when the stock price was $38—it would have been valued at $762 million.
Secret Libor Committee Clings To Anonymity After Rigging Scandal (Bloomberg)
Every two months, representatives from the world’s largest banks meet at an undisclosed location to review the London interbank offered rate. Who sits on the British Bankers’ Association’s Foreign Exchange and Money Markets Committee, the body that governs the benchmark for more than $300 trillion of securities worldwide, is a secret. No minutes are published. The BBA won’t identify any members, saying it wants to protect them from being lobbied, and declined to make the chairman available for interview.
Man wielding sword in Dairy Queen dies after being shot by employee (LVJR via Eater)
A masked man wielding a sword tried to rob a central valley Dairy Queen on Sunday afternoon but was shot and killed by an employee, Las Vegas police said. Homicide Lt. Ray Steiber said that although rare, robbery attempts with swords have occurred in the Las Vegas Valley. "I've seen it before," Steiber said. "It's a deadly weapon in the right hands, and preliminarily, it appears he was using it as a deadly weapon." A second police official, Lt. Les Lane, described the sword as "full size" and more than "3 feet."
Hedge Fund Exit Requests Rise In August (Reuters)
Hedge fund administrator SS&C GlobeOp's forward redemption indicator, a monthly snapshot of clients giving notice to withdraw their cash as a percentage of its assets under administration, measured 3.34 percent in August. This was up from 2.18 percent in July and higher than the 2.71 percent seen a year ago, although it was still well below levels seen during the 2008 credit crisis.
Swiss Bankers Fume Over Privacy (WSJ)
Since this spring, Swiss banks have provided U.S. officials with the names of thousands of their employees, as they seek to fend off any criminal prosecution over allegations that they helped Americans evade taxes. The handover, which initially didn't attract much attention in Switzerland, has become a major controversy over employees' personal privacy, undermining morale at Credit Suisse Group and the private-banking unit of HSBC Holdings, among others. Many of the employees whose names were sent to Washington aren't suspected of having helped Americans evade taxes. In addition, many were never told that their names were being turned over; in other cases, they were told but not allowed to review the documents sent that contained their names.
Private Jet Industry Recovering Among Business Travelers (NYT)
Mr. Dowley, an executive for a private equity firm and a marketing consultant, said he still flew commercial planes on the long, nonstop routes that airlines offer in abundance. But he will sometimes take a business jet to a smaller destination — the kind of place that could take an additional three hours or more to reach by commercial plane. So he may fly commercially from New York to San Francisco for a meeting in San Jose, and then fly by private jet to San Diego for more meetings. He said he used private jets “as a filler” to circumvent time-consuming airline schedules that often require inconvenient connections, even on short hops. He buys hourly flight time on a light jet through NetJets, the leading player in the fractional ownership market, which also sells per-hour private jet flying through its Marquis jet-card program. He said he flew more than 300,000 miles a year for business, about 90 percent on commercial jets and 10 percent on private jets. “Commercial air is more cost-efficient, but private is a massive timesaver,” Mr. Dowley said. “I’m very judicious with the private flying time, though, to manage the cost.”
Deustche Bank Warns Of Australian Recession (WSJ)
FYI.
Soros Takes A Piece Of Manchester United (AP)
Soros disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday that he owns 7.85 percent of Manchester United's Class A shares. The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was made by Soros' hedge fund, Soros Fund Management LLC.
Scientists dispel 'Miserable Monday' myth (BBC)
We may say we hate Mondays, but research suggests Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are equally loathed. US investigators who looked at a poll of 340,000 people found moods were no worse on Mondays than other working days, bar Friday.