Write-Offs: 10.16.12

Author:: Dealbreaker
Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Oct 16, 2012

$$$ High speed traders have reached the limits of exchange responsiveness [BBW]

$$$Sheila Bair: "I'm sure Vikram still blames me" [Fortune]

$$$ Former Goldman Abacus MBS trader Josh Birnbaum is having a nice year [Bloomberg]

$$$ "A senior banker, who says he was fired for being too successful, is taking his 12.5 million euro-plus lawsuit against France's Societe Generale to the UK's highest court in a case that could re-draft employment law." [Reuters]

$$$French president pushing homework ban as part of ed reforms [WaPo]

$$$UBS Whistle-Blower’s Ex-Lawyers Seek Share of IRS Award [Bloomberg]

$$$Big Investors Spar Over General Growth [WSJ]

$$$ Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote a thing [DealBook, CJR]

$$$ "Jessica Rue’s part-time job working at a haunted house has turned into a year-long nightmare. The 18-year-old student from Pevely, Mo., made headlines last year when she accidentally fell into a noose while working as an actress at a St. Louis-area 'scream park,' nearly strangling to death as visitors passed by, believing she was part of the show." [NYDN]

$$$The Surprising Origins of Glenn Beck's Jeans [BBW]

$$$ Facebook Growth Slows Again; Shares Fall 10% [WSJ] $$$ U.S. Libor Charges Said To Go Beyond Barclays Traders [Bloomberg] $$$ Euro Bankers Signal New Action [WSJ] $$$ Bank Breakups ‘Not a Very Good Idea’: Rep. Frank [CNBC] $$$ Russian Spy Ring Aimed to Make Children Agents [WSJ] $$$ There'll be tornadoes in New York tonight [NYDN] $$$ Natixis Global Asset Management is looking for an intermediate trader in Oakland [DBCC] $$$ Buiter’s now predicting Grexit probability of 90% [FTAV] $$$ Icahn Posts Win as CVR Energy Says It Had No Offers [DealBook] $$$ Money Launderer for Internet Poker Cos. Sentenced to Three Years [FBN] $$$ Romney Riles Londoners With Comments On Olympic Games [Bloomberg] $$$ Cursing at Work Harms Your @#$%& Career [BBW]

$$$ "Bernanke Signals Readiness to Do More" [WSJ] $$$ "Judgment Days Arrive for Euro Crisis" [WSJ] $$$ Spain To Recapitalize Bankia After 4.45 Billion-Euro Loss [Bloomberg] $$$ Nomura’s Failed Global Ambitions [DealBook] $$$ Quebec Whodunit: 1/4 of Province’s Syrup Reserves Go Missing [WSJ] $$$ That’s it for us today. We’re off Monday for the holiday, enjoy the long weekend and see you on Tuesday! $$$ A global investment bank is looking for an experienced metals options trader in New York [DBCC] $$$ Facebook hits new low after price target cuts [Reuters] $$$ Here is some hedge fund Weltschmerz [FT] $$$ Here is a really depressing story about student loans [NYT] $$$ Some people still don't like PowerPoint [BBW] $$$ "In general, rabbits preferred the higher resolution of the MacBook, whereas squirrels favored the larger screen of the Toshiba. Chipmunks were too hyperactive to linger around either device, even though I sprinkled the keyboards liberally with birdseed, which chipmunks seem to enjoy far more than birds do. I do not recommend this practice ..." [NYT]

$$$ Regulator says no to Obama mortgage write-down plan [Reuters] $$$ Boehner, Reid reach early deal to avert shutdown [WaPo] $$$ Problems with a positive expected value lottery [Kid Dynamite] $$$ Problems with using Twitter signals in your quant fund [Willy Staley] $$$ J.P. Morgan Awarded ‘Best Trader’ For Second Quarter (Really) [Deal Journal] $$$ Snoop Lion explains name change [from "Snoop Dogg"], new focus [reggae] [CNN] $$$ Pimco is looking for a trade compliance analyst in New York and a trade compliance supervisor in Newport Beach [DBCC] $$$ SEC seeks more investor protections for U.S. muni market [Reuters] $$$ High frequency trading costs investors $2.5bn a year, or less, or zero, or benefits them, or something else [BBW] $$$ Switzerland is ‘new China’ in currencies [FT] $$$ FraudVille? Zynga sued for insider trading [Term Sheet] $$$ Happy 25th birthday, Microsoft PowerPoint! [Undercover Economist] $$$ The Porn Convention [Forbes]

$$$ M&T To Buy Hudson City In Deal Valued At $3.7 Billion [Bloomberg] $$$ Best Buy Founder Gets Green Light to Pursue Buyout [WSJ] $$$ Don't all M&A processes leak and push up the target stock price? Anyway, Deltek's did [Term Sheet] $$$ Mike Evans heats up Goldman succession speculation by buying an apartment [DealBook] $$$ Americans Think the Rich Are Smarter, But Greedier [CNBC] $$$ Quincy Jones 'knew of alleged plot by Steve Wynn to kill founder of Girls Gone Wild and hide his body in the desert' say court documents [Daily Mail] $$$ Prudential is looking for an associate manager for derivative products [DBCC] $$$ In Dollar Thrifty Deal, Hertz Bets Big on Certainty of Closing [DealBook] $$$ Delaware court affirms $2 bln Southern Copper judgment [Reuters] $$$ Allowing mortgage cramdowns raised mortgage rates by 10-20bps for risky borrowers [Credit Slips] $$$ The Sharapova Effect: you try harder to succeed in sports if you're good-looking enough to get lots of endorsement deals [Freakonomics] $$$ “Remember when McDonald’s used to be called Mickey D’s?” asks Becky Johnson, a senior vice president at Applebee’s. “That was a street slang term, people playing with the name. We found out that ‘the bee’s’ is how the kids are describing Applebee’s.” By “kids,” she means twenty- and thirtysomething singles who may eat at Applebee’s with co-workers or family members, but who generally go elsewhere—like, to an actual bar—at night and on the weekends. “The bee’s is an overt invitation to them,” says Johnson. “We want them back.” [BBW]

$$$ More Probes Add to Barclays's Woes [WSJ] $$$ Corzine Searches for What's Next [WSJ] $$$ London Whale’s Boss Martin-Artajo Sued by JPMorgan [Bloomberg] $$$ “The growth in [European government bond] futures volumes is unbelievable,” said one senior credit trader. “The same short interest still exists – economically it’s identical. If you thought the short interest was hurting the market then it makes no sense to say cleared derivatives are good and OTC derivatives are bad.” [IFRE] $$$ Remember: it's not Halloween if you're in New Jersey [nj.gov via Counterparties] $$$ Dear College Kids, If You Dress in an Ironically Racist or Insensitive Costume, You May Get Punched In the Nose Like I Did [Gawker Updates] $$$ A private equity firm is looking for an associate in San Francisco [DBCC] $$$ When Is There a Strong Transfer Risk from the Sovereigns to the Corporates? Property Rights Gaps and CDS Spreads [NY Fed] $$$ Citigroup Staff Uprooted for Weeks as Sandy Slams Wall Street [Bloomberg] $$$ On Mayor Bloomberg's sign-language interpreter: "The perception that we non-signers have that these hand movements and facial expressions are particularly 'animated' and 'expressive' is precisely due to our lack of experience with them as linguistic features." [LL] $$$ Bloomberg on hurricane sushi, part 2 [BBW, earlier] $$$ Baby walrus rides out hurricane at NYC aquarium WITH VIDEO [MSNBC]

$$$ Ex-UBS Traders Offered Deal by U.S. in Rate Probe [WSJ] $$$ The history of the invention of Libor [Reuters] $$$ British MPs accuse US of anti-City agenda [FT] $$$ Why investors should avoid hedge funds [Reuters / Felix Salmon] $$$ "Brazilian central bank employees staged their first work stoppage in five years today ... demanding an average pay increase of 23 percent to compensate for inflation since June 2008." [Bloomberg via Slate] $$$ Pole Vaulter Realizes It’s Not His Day As His Pole Shatters Mid-Vault [Deadspin] $$$ J.P. Morgan is looking for a Java developer to work on interest rates derivatives pricing [DBCC] $$$ Carbon Credits Gone Awry Raise Output of Harmful Gas [NYT] $$$ "I propose an expanded system of company registration under which companies would have to trade in private markets for a seasoning period, with mandatory disclosure, before they would be allowed to sell their shares to the public at large." [Harvard Law] $$$ On retail vs. institutional investors: "As for small investors vs. little guys, there’s a difference. If you have enough money that you’re investing it through brokers, I personally don’t count you as small, even if you appear small to Goldman Sachs." [Mathbabe] $$$ A Hundred Horses Are Ford’s Pride After Flipping Tainted Banks is really a Bloomberg headline [Bloomberg] $$$ Beck's next album will be released only as sheet music [McSweeney's]