Opening Bell: 4.8.15
JPMorgan Algorithm Knows You’re a Rogue Employee Before You Do (Bloomberg)
“We’re taking technology that was built for counter-terrorism and using it against human language, because that’s where intentions are shown,” said Estes, whose company counts Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG as clients and investors, but not JPMorgan. “If you want to be proactive, you have to get people before they act.”
Shell Will Buy BG Group for $70 Billion in Cash and Shares (Bloomberg)
The acquisition is the most significant response yet to the slump in oil prices and could set in motion a series of mergers as the largest energy companies look to cut costs and restore profits.
New Hedge Fund Strategy: Dispute the Patent, Short the Stock (WSJ)
Kyle Bass, head of Hayman Capital Management LP—which made a fortune wagering on the housing bust—is targeting patents that he says have little value other than to drive up prescription drug prices. His new fund bets against companies whose patents it believes are spurious, and invests in those that would profit if the patents are invalidated, said people familiar with the matter.
Rakoff backs SEC on insider trading laws (NYP)
The maverick judge who made waves scuttling the Securities and Exchange Commission’s no-fault deals with Wall Street is taking on another controversial topic: insider trading. Only this time, Manhattan federal court judge Jed Rakoff is siding with the SEC by refusing a request by two traders to toss a civil insider-trading case based on the recent Newman appeals decision. That December decision narrowed the scope of criminal insider-trading laws — but Rakoff said that civil cases require a lower standard of proof than criminal cases. “While a person is guilty of criminal insider trading only if that person committed the offense ‘willfully’ … a person may be civilly liable if that person committed the offense recklessly,” Rakoff wrote in his decision, released Monday.
'Mrs. Doubtfire' Bank Robber Sought By Santa Cruz Police (HP)
A cross-dressing bandit pulled off a bank robbery in California last week, armed only with a maverick sense of style. Now, police are asking for the public's help to bring him to justice. Cops in Santa Cruz are calling the bandit "Mrs. Doubtfire," after Robin Williams' famous fictional nanny in drag. The suspect allegedly hit a U.S. Bank in Santa Cruz around 3 p.m. on Friday, April 3, wearing a blond wig and glasses...Police said the same suspect was reported in the vicinity of a different Santa Cruz bank about an hour before the robbery, and is believed to have been "casing" it as a potential target...He is described as "roughly 25 to 35 years old, weighing 160 to 170 pounds and standing 5 feet 5 inches tall," according to Santa Cruz police.
Europe’s Plunging Borrowing Costs Mark Two New Milestones (WSJ)
Europe’s plunging borrowing costs marked two new milestones on Wednesday, with Switzerland becoming the first country ever to issue 10-year debt that gives investors a yield under 0%, and Mexico lining up a rare deal to borrow euros that it will repay a century from now.
Apple faces local battles as its prepares global payments push (Reuters)
Apple Pay has taken the United States by storm since its launch in September, and the company has said it already accounts for around $2 out of every $3 spent using "contactless" payments on the three big U.S. card networks. But the tech giant will need a whole lot more magic as it looks to extend the service to international markets. Unlike the consumer electronics business where Apple regularly rolls out new computers or phones in dozens of countries at once, there is no such thing as a unified payments market.
In Rise of Yik Yak App, Profits and Ethics Collide (NYT)
According to Mr. Mahler, Yik Yak “has been used to issue threats of mass violence on more than a dozen college campuses, including the University of North Carolina, Michigan State University and Penn State. Racist, homophobic and misogynist ‘yaks’ have generated controversy at many more, among them Clemson, Emory, Colgate and the University of Texas. At Kenyon College, a ‘yakker’ proposed a gang rape at the school’s women’s center.”
TV at Oklahoma KFC played sex scene while family dined (UPI)
Gerald Whalen's video, shot inside the KFC restaurant in Edmond about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, shows what he believed to be a pornographic film playing on a KFC television while he was dining with his wife, April, and their twin 6-year-old sons. "I looked up from my plate, and we're talking full nudity," Gerald Whalen told KOCO-TV. Whalen said he and his wife tried not to react to the action on screen, which was accompanied by the sounds of heavy breathing, so as not to alert their sons.