Opening Bell: 05.30.13
Petraeus Reboots With Private-Equity Giant (WSJ)
David Petraeus, the former U.S. Army general who resigned last year as Central Intelligence Agency chief, is rebooting his career with KKR & Co., the giant private-equity firm. KKR, known for large debt-fueled corporate takeovers, hopes Mr. Petraeus's experience and Rolodex will help the firm seek and size up deals, said people familiar with the move. The former general will be chairman of a new internal "institute" focused on macroeconomic forecasts, communications, public policy and advice on investments in emerging markets, they said. ... Ken Mehlman, a former Republican National Committee chairman who now serves as KKR's global head of public affairs, said Mr. Petraeus is "someone who has served in an incredibly effective and in some ways heroic way."
Morgan Stanley Lowers Ambitions (WSJ)
During the dinner at Manhattan's fashionable SD26 restaurant, Colm Kelleher, Morgan Stanley's president of institutional securities, said the fixed-income unit would aim to pull in $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in quarterly revenue, significantly less than the firm's peak of $3.39 billion in the first quarter of 2007, according to people familiar with the meeting. The unit generated $1.52 billion in revenue in the first quarter, excluding accounting adjustments. Morgan Stanley executives believe the lower revenue will help the firm focus on more profitable business. They are targeting a 10% return on equity—a profitability yardstick—across the firm. Last quarter, Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 7.5%, well below Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s 12% and the 18% of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s investment bank.
Documents Show Obama Officials in Tension Over British Banks (DealBook)
In the case of the banks suspected of laundering billions of dollars through the American financial system — HSBC and Standard Chartered — authorities decided last year to level hefty fines rather than seek criminal charges. Those decisions raised concerns in Washington that some banks, having grown so large and interconnected, are too big to indict. The internal government documents, which revealed some tension among authorities about how aggressively to pursue the cases, suggest that at least one agency, the Treasury Department, was alert to such concerns. When authorities were being blamed for letting HSBC off the hook, Treasury officials assured top aides to Timothy F. Geithner, then the Treasury secretary, that monetary penalties were coming as “quickly as possible,” according to the documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Japan public pension mulls shift after stock rally (Reuters)
Japan's public pension fund - a pool of over $1 trillion - is considering a change to its portfolio strategy that could allow its investment in domestic stocks to grow with a rallying market, according to people familiar with the deliberations. ... Without the shift, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) could be forced to buy Japanese government bonds, already the biggest part of its portfolio by far, in a weakening and more volatile market. It could also have to sell Japanese stocks in an equity market that has rallied more than 60 percent since November even after the recent sell-off.
UBS Hunts for Hidden Billionaires as It Expands in Africa (Bloomberg)
“Wealth management is key to the Africa franchise,” Sean Bennett, the Johannesburg-based managing director of UBS in sub-Saharan Africa, said yesterday in an interview. ... “When countries grow at 7 percent, that’s a lot of people starting to make serious money,” Bennett said. UBS has “hardly touched the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to banking Africa’s wealthiest, he said. ... “There are billionaires’ names out there that you wouldn’t recognize,” Bennett said, without saying where the bank plans to expand in Africa. With UBS mostly catering to people who are already high profile, there is scope for growth among the hidden billionaires, he said.
Disney World patron finds loaded gun in her seat on Dinosaur ride with her grandson (AP)
Officials said that the woman found the pistol on the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom. The woman turned over the loaded weapon to a park attendant, who then contacted her manager and authorities. The gun's owner, Angelo Lista, told authorities he discovered his gun was missing several minutes after leaving the ride. He has a concealed weapons permit. Lista told authorities he didn't know Disney World patrons weren't allowed to bring guns. He said he thought the security checkpoint at the entrance to the Florida theme park was only so that guards could check bags for bombs or explosives.
Miss Universe Canada initially crowns wrong winner due to typo (Today)
For nearly 24 hours, Denise Garrido was living her dream as the winner of Miss Universe Canada. But on Sunday night, a typo discovered in the tabulation of the results took it all away. It turned out that Riza Santos, 26, was the actual winner, and Garrido, 26, was the third runner-up. ... An error in a decimal place on a judge’s score, like having 75 instead of 7.5 for example, resulted in the skewed outcome, according to Garrido.
Crisis states lead way as euro zone's economic mood brightens (Reuters)
Confidence in the euro zone economy grew by more than expected in May, with hope that the worst of the crisis may be over spreading to countries that have been on its frontline. Economic morale in the 17 states that use the euro increased by 0.8 point to 89.4, the European Commission said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected an increase to 89.0. ... In Greece, the first euro zone state to be bailed out and heading for its sixth straight year of recession, sentiment climbed to a five-year high, while Portugal and Italy also recorded stronger readings.
Dish Raises Its Bid for Clearwire (DealBook)
Dish announced a plan to raise its tender offer for shares in Clearwire to $4.40 a share in cash. The bid trumps the most recent takeover offer by the company’s majority owner, Sprint Nextel, of $3.40 a share, less than two days before shareholders are set to vote on the latter offer. In a letter to Clearwire’s board, Dish reiterated the superiority of its offer for the company and stressed its desire to harness the wireless network operator’s spectrum to its own holdings. Dish is seizing upon continued investor dissatisfaction with Sprint’s revised bid, which came after shareholders roundly criticized previous proposals as insufficient. Sprint — with the backing of its Japanese suitor, SoftBank — sweetened its offer to head off defeat.
Oil guru says US shale revolution is ‘temporary’ (FT)
Andy Hall, whose lucrative bets on oil prices earned him a $100m salary at Citigroup in the 2000s, told investors that the rapid decline in output suffered by shale wells is “likely [to] mean that the bounty afforded by shale resources is temporary”. ... The trader told investors in his $4.5bn Astenbeck hedge fund, which he runs alongside the Phibro commodity trading house, that while output from shale oil wells is initially prolific, production declines rapidly because each well only taps a single pool of rock-trapped oil, rather than an entire reservoir.
Zuckerberg’s Step Into Politics Pushes Tech Friends Away (Bloomberg)
“The right way to accomplish political objectives is to argue issues on the merits,” Elon Musk said in a telephone interview. The billionaire co-founder of PayPal and chairman of electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. stopped participating with FWD.us earlier this month. “We want a political system that is less cynical over time, not more,” Musk said. Technology entrepreneur Anil Dash, who declined to join the group, was more blunt, writing on his blog, “If we’re finally moving past our innocent, naive and idealistic lack of engagement with the actual dirty dealings of legislation, then let’s try to figure out how to do it without losing our souls.”
Pinterest Embraces Nudes as Others Tighten Content Monitoring (FT)
Pinterest will allow more nude images to be published on the popular photo-based social network, even as other social networks such as Facebook grapple with how to tighten their moderation of potentially offensive content. The online pinboard site said that it was responding to complaints from artists and photographers against its strict no nudity policy. "Pinterest is about expressing your passions and people are passionate about art and that may include nudes," the company told the Financial Times. "So we're going to try to accommodate that."
Waiter, We'll Have the Food Event (WSJ)
Instead of putting young customers at the bad table near the bathroom, writing them off as McDonald's MCD -2.21% and Doritos fans out for a rare good meal, more restaurants are catering to a new type of young diner that wants to be wowed and loves elk heart tartare. They tend to travel in groups, eat late in the evening and can lend restaurants a cool cachet, attracting more patrons of all ages. ... Failure to impress this demographic can lead to lousy posts on social media. Thirty- and 40-something guests "are not going to blog about it or post it up somewhere, but the 20s all do," says Mr. Kim of Hanjan: "They keep you on your toes."
Police arrest man carrying long blade who ran into downtown Manhattan restaurant (NYDN)
Cops nabbed a man with what appeared to be a sheathed sword after a cop directing traffic spotted him walking on a downtown Manhattan street. The unidentified suspect was walking around Howard and Centre streets when the officer spotted an unusual bulge in his pants shortly after 5 p.m., witnesses said.
When the officer approached, the suspect pulled out a sheathed blade and ran away, stunned witnesses said. The officer called for backup and gave chase to the man, who darted into Central Buffet.