Opening Bell: 10.21.15
Short Sellers The Biggest Loser in Weight Watchers’ Climb (WSJ)
A massive 57% of shares of the weight-loss company were sold short as of Oct. 1 as speculators placed bets that the stock was due to decline, according to data compiled by Schaeffer’s Investment Research. Instead, the stock has soared after Weight Watchers revealed on Monday that media mogul Oprah Winfrey was taking a 10% stake and would become the company’s public face.
European officials call for probe into Wall Street messenger (NYP)
European officials are making noise about Wall Street-backed messaging system Symphony, calling on bank regulators to probe how it manages and deletes data. Three European Parliament members said they are concerned it will undermine laws on “financial transparency,” according to a letter Tuesday. Symphony didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Regulators Reviewing Steps to Address Treasury Market Volatility (WSJ)
Regulators analyzing sharp moves in the $12.8 trillion U.S. Treasury market are reviewing a series of steps and potential rule enhancements to safeguard the integrity of what has long been the world’s most liquid securities market. Among the questions they are evaluating: whether it makes sense to subject trading venues dedicated to Treasurys to additional registration requirements, what additional data they should collect to make prices more transparent and how to smooth trading, regulators said Tuesday at a Federal Reserve Bank of New York conference in downtown Manhattan.
Investors Watch Saudi Riyal (WSJ)
Oil prices have tumbled, the dollar has rallied and worries abound on growth in China and other emerging-market nations. Now, some analysts and traders are weighing whether these pressures might force Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, to adjust a peg to the dollar that has stood for nearly three decades.
The Woman Who Got Big Banks to Pay Billions for Breaking Iran Sanctions (Bloomberg)
Counting Credit Agricole SA’s $787 million settlement, global banks have now paid nearly $15 billion in fines, penalties and forfeitures in six years for violating U.S. sanctions laws. The massive effort may not have happened if Laura Billings hadn’t gone back, one last time, to a dusty file shoved in a corner of her office.
Have a ball (or a a few) at Syracuse’s Testical Festival (NYDN)
For some 25 years, Terry Riley — who owns Riley’s in Syracuse — has customers going nuts every October with a month-long Testical Festival. The event’s biggest attraction is free, all-you-can-eat fried balls. When the festival started, it focused on fried turkey balls, but since then the offerings have expanded. “Now we do everything else we can get our hands on, so to speak,” Riley told the Daily News. That includes bull, ram, pig, goat, lamb and buffalo balls. Typically, Riley’s serves balls breaded and deep-fried, but sometimes he likes to switch it up. “Right now, I have ground lamb testicles and we’re making meatballs so what do you call them?” he mused. “They’re already balls.”
Perella Weinberg Sues Former Partners Over Rival Venture (Dealbook)
he boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners sued four of its former partners on Tuesday, formally accusing them of trying to form a rival corporate restructuring shop while still employed by the firm. In the complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court, Perella Weinberg said that the four — Michael A. Kramer, Derron S. Slonecker, Joshua S. Scherer and Adam W. Verost — violated the terms of their employment contracts by trying to lure other members of their team to their new firm, now called Ducera Partners. “The individual defendants did not merely intend to leave PWP and compete fairly,” lawyers for Perella Weinberg wrote in the complaint, referring to the firm’s acronym. “They intended to damage PWP by decimating the restructuring group and eliminating PWP’s ability to compete in the restructuring business for an uncertain period of time.”
Wells Fargo signs deal to recruit Credit Suisse's US brokers (Reuters)
Credit Suisse Group AG has awarded Wells Fargo & Co the exclusive right to recruit the Swiss bank's brokers who work in the United States, the two companies said on Tuesday. Although the Credit Suisse brokerage business has become profitable in the last two years, it is too small "to sustainably compete without significant investment or acquisition," the bank told its brokers in an internal memo. Credit Suisse Private Banking employs about 275 brokers in 13 U.S. offices, while Wells Fargo operates the third-largest brokerage in the United States, with about 15,000 advisers in its bank branches and private client brokerage networks. The companies did not disclose terms of the arrangement, but said in a news release that Wells Fargo hopes to put as many brokers as it can in its offices by early 2016.
Ferrari faithful rev IPO price to top of range (Reuters)
Ferrari, controlled by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, pulled out all the stops to market itself to some of its cars' owners as well as Wall Street, and also limited the offering to a 9.1 percent stake in the company. The strategy paid off, as the IPO was priced in New York on Tuesday at $52 per share, the top end of its indicated $48 to $52 per share range, according to people familiar with the matter. The IPO gives Ferrari a market capitalization of around $9.8 billion.
Florida Couple Left Name In Gallery Guestbook Before Robbery: Police (AP)
Authorities say a man and woman left the woman's name and telephone number in the guestbook of a South Florida art gallery before stealing about $6,000 worth of jewelry. Palm Beach police say 24-year-old Megan Ohara and 19-year-old David Ziskowski took a bracelet and a ring Sunday from the Attila JK exhibition at the ICFA Gallery. They were spotted a short time later at a nearby grocery, and police reported finding the jewelry in the woman's purse. Officers found multiple fake email addresses and at least one obscene drawing in the gallery's guestbook. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports that two of the fake emails included the name "Meg" and one included Ohara's phone number.