Opening Bell: 10.29.13
Deutsche Bank Profit Falls 94% on 1.2 Billion Euro Charge (Bloomberg)
Net income in the three months through September dropped to 41 million euros from 747 million euros in the year-earlier period, the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement on its website today. That missed the 430 million-euro average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Deutsche Bank co-Chief Executive Officers Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen have been forced to make provisions to settle legal probes over their firm’s alleged role in rigging interbank lending rates and lawsuits related to the U.S. housing market. The company is among investment banks experiencing a slowdown in fixed-income trading, a key portion of their earnings, as investors wait to see whether the Federal Reserve will begin reducing bond purchases.
Dutch Rabobank fined $1 billion over Libor scandal (Reuters)
Rabobank said on Tuesday it was fined 774 million euros by U.S., British and Dutch regulators after 30 staff were involved in "inappropriate conduct" linked to a scam to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) and its Euribor cousin - benchmarks for more than $300 trillion of financial products. Rabobank's Chief Executive Piet Moerland resigned, saying he was shocked by the language his staff had used in the scam between 2005 and 2011 and understood the sense of indignation this would cause internally and externally.
France must beat U.S. at economic intelligence: trade minister (Reuters)
France must get better than the United States at economic intelligence rather than whining about U.S. phone tapping, which is no reason to suspend EU trade talks with Washington, its trade minister told Reuters on Tuesday. Reports that the U.S. National Security Agency extensively intercepted its European allies' phone calls and emails including France and Germany have caused a diplomatic uproar. Asked about the scandal, Trade Minister Nicole Bricq said the lesson was for Paris to improve its own economic intelligence gathering. "Economic intelligence exists. There's no point in whining. I think we should be doing better, be better organized," Bricq told a Reuters Newsmaker briefing on Tuesday.
Man Accused Of Throwing Cat At Girlfriend (Sun Sentinel)
Stuart was arrested Thursday following an argument with his girlfriend. During the dispute, Broward Judge John "Jay" Hurley noted that Stuart allegedly injured the woman with her own pet. "She was lying on the bed and you entered the bedroom holding something in your hand, head high, and she said you were yelling at her, 'Look it's going to die. It's got no air,' and at that point you threw the cat in her face," the judge read from the arrest report. The cat scratched the left side of her face near her left eye [and] her face was bleeding. He pushed her over, knocking the television and computer to the floor, the report stated. "When the police got there you said, 'Just take me to jail. I'm tired of this,'" the judge read. "Later on, it says you changed your mind and allegedly said, 'Ok, I'm sorry, I'm calm, can you let me go?'" Citing two previous convictions for battery, the judge set Stuart's bond at $16,500 with orders to stay away from his girlfriend and her pet.
Herbalife sees big profit growth despite controversy (NYP)
The controversial protein-shake seller reported third-quarter adjusted net income of $1.41 per diluted share, a 44 percent gain from the year-earlier period that beat Wall Street forecasts. Sales in the quarter jumped 19 percent to $1.2 billion. “We continue to execute on our core strategies and deliver record financial performance, marking our sixteenth consecutive quarter of double-digit top-line growth,” said CEO Michael Johnson.
Consumer Confidence in U.S. Slumps by Most Since August 2011 (Bloomberg)
Confidence among U.S. consumers declined in October by the most since August 2011 as the budget impasse and debt-ceiling negotiations in Washington took a toll on outlooks. The Conference Board’s index slumped to 71.2 from a revised 80.2 last month, the New York-based private research group said today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a decrease this month to 75. The October reading was the weakest in six months.
Blackstone Adds to Biggest Year for REIT IPOs Since 2004 (Bloomberg)
Blackstone is taking its first REIT public in what is poised to be a wave of property IPOs by the world’s largest alternative-asset manager, from hotel chain Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. to potential sales next year of its IndCor Properties Inc. and Invitation Homes businesses. The U.S. economic recovery, falling commercial real estate vacancies and low interest rates have primed the pump for public offerings, with REIT stocks at close to six-year highs.
Man throws gold in dumpster to spite ex-wife (NYP)
In June, Earl Ray Jones, 52, of Divide, Colorado, was ordered by a judge to pay $3,000 a month to the woman he’d been married to for 25 years, so he pillaged the couple’s retirement account and had it converted into 22 pounds worth of gold and silver bars, the paper reports. Jones claims he then tossed the modern-day treasure into a dumpster behind a motel, where he had been living temporarily, later telling the judge he had no money to give his ex-wife, according to the paper. His wife’s lawyer called it one of the most bizarre things he’d ever seen. “We say that when people are divorcing, they enter a state of temporary insanity,” quipped John-Paul Lyle. “But on a scale of 1 to 10, this is my 10.”