Opening Bell: 6.22.15
U.K. Bankers More Likely to Misbehave Under Pressure, PwC Says (Bloomberg)
Managers in banking, insurance and wealth management were more anxious and inclined to misbehave when “negative consequences or punishment for poor performance were highlighted,” PricewaterhouseCoopers and the London Business School said in a report on Monday. “When it made them feel anxious, they tended to say money was one of their key motivators,” Duncan Wardley, a behavioral science specialist at PwC, said in the statement. “They also tended to take more risks and make unethical choices.”
Strauss-Kahn Shifts Focus From Sex Trial to Hedge-Fund Probe (Bloomberg)
While Strauss-Kahn will try to put the Lille trial with its days of embarrassing testimony behind him, he and his lawyers must shift their focus to Luxembourg and the failure of a hedge fund that bore Strauss-Kahn’s name. The state prosecutor there is reviewing complaints stemming from the collapse last November of Leyne Strauss-Kahn & Partners following the suicide of Thierry Leyne, who had co-founded the investment firm with Strauss-Kahn months earlier.
Hostess pitches ‘healthy’ Twinkies to prospective buyers (NYP)
Twinkie is back — and it’s not as bad for you as you think. Believe it or not, that’s the sales pitch the owners of Twinkie and other Hostess snack cakes are making to prospective buyers who are dealing with a rising tide of junk food-averse consumers, The Post has learned. The owners claim in their sales presentations that Twinkie — which typically gets an “F” from nutritionists — actually stacks up pretty well against energy bars that are widely regarded as healthier alternatives...The owners of Hostess, Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management and Dean Metropoulos, are seeking $2 billion for the business they bought for $410 million out of liquidation. Grupo Bimbo, Flowers Foods and Aryzta are among the suitors.
Guernsey: Where Home Buyers Find Shelter (From Taxes) (WSJ)
“I used to pick clients up at the airport who would say, ‘I had never even heard of Guernsey before my accountant said I should think about moving here,’” said island estate-agent Richard Fox, director of Martel Maides. Financial advisers favor Guernsey for is its tax system. Here, income tax is capped at 20% and there is no inheritance or capital gains tax. Anybody with an EU passport can take advantage of this system by buying a property and spending at least 91 days a year on the island. (Those outside the EU will also require a visa.)
Woman Busted For Ruff Sex Is Back In Jail (TSG)
The Florida woman busted last week for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with her pit bull is back in jail following an arrest yesterday for violating her supervised release, which barred her from having contact with any animals. Ashley Miller, 18, was collared yesterday at a Bradenton home after a sheriff’s deputy responded to the residence upon receiving an anonymous call reporting that she was “in contact with animals.” Deputy Lauren Alvarado reported that Miller was living at the home with a cat named “Loki” and “2-face,” the dog at the center of Miller's criminal case. After spending three nights in jail, Miller said she returned to the house Monday, stating, “I had no other place to go.” Following her release from custody, Miller picked up “2-face,” a female Brindle pit bull, from “forensic testing” and brought the dog back to her home. According to a sheriff’s report, Miller acknowledged that she returned to the property “even though she was aware that the cat and the dog lived at the residence full time.” Miller, who denied having any physical contact with the animals, was arrested for contempt of court and booked into the county jail. Deputy Alvarado noted that “Loki” and “2-face” did not appear injured.
Italian Bonds Rise on Greek Optimism as Traders Face Turbulence (Bloomberg)
“Clearly the market is playing a positive outcome,” said Patrick Jacq, a senior fixed-income strategist at BNP Paribas SA in Paris. “What we’ve had over the weekend is a distinct improvement in negotiations. But this doesn’t mean we’re going to see an agreement. As long as we don’t have an official agreement between Greece and its creditors the situation remains vulnerable.”
California ruling seen unlikely to dent value of Uber, other start-ups (Reuters)
A California ruling requiring Uber to classify a San Francisco-based driver as an employee instead of an independent contractor could potentially change how sharing-economy companies operate, but it is unlikely to dent their value, investors said. If it holds up on appeal, the California Labor Commissioner's decision, which came to light last week, may have a limited impact on Uber and other companies that rely on networks of on-demand workers. That's because the benefits of treating workers as contractors rather than employees are more important in a start-up's early days and less so now that Uber and many similar companies have grown, investors say.
SoftBank, partners eye $20 billion investment in Indian solar projects (Reuters)
Japan's Softbank Corp (9984.T), together with Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan's Foxconn (2354.TW), will invest about $20 billion in solar projects in India, in one of the biggest investment pledges to date in the country's renewable energy sector. Softbank, which previously said it would invest $10 billion in India over time, said on Monday the companies had agreed a minimum commitment of generating 20 gigawatts of energy.
SEC Fights Challenges to Its In-House Courts (WSJ)
The agency is deploying a variety of countermeasures to fight at least seven cases brought by defendants around the country. The expanding effort prompted one federal judge last week to say the agency appears to be in “a little bit of chaos right now.” The cases are forcing the SEC to defend the growing use of its five administrative-law judges, to whom it sends hundreds of cases a year. The agency has been directing more cases to its internal courts since the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law granted it more latitude to do so.
North Korea Claims It Has Found Cure For MERS, Ebola, SARS And AIDS (AP)
North Korea says it has succeeded where the greatest minds in science have failed. The authoritarian, impoverished nation better known for pursuing a nuclear program despite global criticism announced Friday it has a drug can prevent and cure MERS, Ebola, SARS and AIDS. The secretive state did not provide proof, and the claim is likely to provoke widespread skepticism.
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