Opening Bell: 10.13.16

Elizabeth Warren isn't done with John Stumpf; Rate hike looks likely soon; There’s a sexy Kenneth Bone costume; and more.

Author:: Dealbreaker
Publish date:: Oct 13, 2016
Updated on: Jan 14, 2019

Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf Quits in Fallout From Fake Accounts (Bloomberg)
Stumpf, 63, is retiring from both posts effective immediately, the bank said Wednesday in a statement. Tim Sloan, 56, the chief operating officer long viewed as his most likely successor, will become CEO. Lead director Stephen Sanger will become the board’s non-executive chairman. Elizabeth Duke, a former Federal Reserve Board governor, will be vice chair.

Elizabeth Warren goes on tirade after Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf retires (CNBC)
Warren tweeted on Wednesday that she would still like to see Stumpf "return every nickel he made" during the period the fake accounts were opened, as well as face an investigation by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wells Fargo's new CEO faces immediate test (Reuters)
The newly installed chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) will present third-quarter results on Friday, less than 48 hours after replacing John Stumpf at the helm of the bank. Investors are seeking reassurance that Wells Fargo can rebuild its reputation and retain profits while overhauling the hard-charging sales culture at the heart of a scandal over unauthorized accounts. Sloan's nearly 30 years with Wells, largely spent on the corporate and institutional side of the bank, and his moderate temperament make him a safe pair of hands. But as chief operating officer of the bank since November 2015, he had oversight over Wells' retail division, where employees opened up to 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge, some of them during his tenure as COO.

Fed Minutes See Rate Rise ‘Relatively Soon’ (Dealbook)
The Federal Reserve expects to increase its benchmark interest rate “relatively soon” if the economy continues to advance at a reasonable pace, according to an account published Wednesday of the bank’s most recent policy meeting.

People really want Ken Bone to do p0rn (NYP)
While his name rather sounds like the star of an X-rated film, P0rnhub says that “searches for Ken Bone skyrocketed +186 percent on P0rnhub following the debate.” His number of Twitter followers had also blown up to 181,000 by Wednesday, powered by his self-proclaimed “Boneheads” fans.

The World’s Best IPO Has Gained 6,000%, But Analysts Say Stay Away (Bloomberg)
Luen Wong Group Holdings Ltd. jumped 1,438 percent on the first trading day after its April initial public offering and is now 6,715 percent above its offer price. The company, which reported sales of $41 million last year and profit of $1.1 million from projects like laying roads and digging sewers, is today worth $2.9 billion. The run-up highlights quirks in Hong Kong’s stock market, where wild swings are a regular occurrence, many firms have a tiny portion of their shares available to trade and there’s a healthy sideline in mainland Chinese firms buying companies to engineer reverse takeovers. Luen Wong’s world-beating showing has been ascribed to a combination of all three and has left analysts urging caution.

Credit Suisse’s investment banking unit faces brighter outlook (FT)
After a year of losses and scandals, of sackings and restructuring, something is finally going right at Credit Suisse’s investment bank. The division has quietly risen to fourth place in the global M&A league tables after advising on the three biggest deals in the world so far this year. And it has been winning new talent to replace those who left because of the Swiss bank’s decision to prioritise wealth management over investment banking in its 2015 restructuring.

HSBC: There's Now a Very High Chance of a 'Severe Fall' In U.S. Stocks (Bloomberg)
In a new note, Gunn says he is now on alert for a big dip in U.S. equities. "With the U.S. stock market selling off aggressively on October 11, we now issue a RED ALERT," he writes. "The possibility of a severe fall in the stock market is now very high," he adds, noting that volatility has continued to rise since the end of the summer and the recent sell-off was seen across many areas of the market, and not just select groups.

There’s A Sexy Kenneth Bone Costume (HP)
We all know Kenneth Bone ― the undecided voter who asked Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at presidential debate about energy policy. Despite Bone being inexplicably still undecided, we’ve grown to love his calm demeanor, his vibrant fashions, and toying with his existence on the internet...Unfortunately for Bone, he entered the zeitgeist just weeks before Halloween. IZOD has already mostly sold out of the iconic red sweater he wore. So, what’s a Bone fan supposed to do? Well, in true Halloween spirit, Yandy has turned the Kenneth Bone uniform into, uh, a costume. They’re calling it the “Sexy Undecided Voter Costume.” Yes, you read that right. It’s a sexy costume...The costume description says it features “an iconic red crop top with cap sleeves, a white cropped undershirt, blue high waisted pants with a back zipper closure, the must-have mustache, black glasses and a microphone.” Apparently, Yandy started taking pre-orders on Tuesday and sold out its initial run “within four hours.”

Opening Bell

Trading Case Embroils KPMG (WSJ) Scott London, the partner in charge of audits of Herbalife Ltd. and Skechers USA Inc. until KPMG fired him last week, told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday that "I regret my actions in leaking nonpublic data to a third party." Mr. London said his leaks "started a few years back," adding that KPMG bore "no responsibility" for his actions. "What I have done was wrong and against everything" he believed in, said Mr. London, who was based in Los Angeles for the accounting firm...Neither KPMG nor Mr. London named the recipient of Mr. London's tips. The recipient isn't associated with a hedge fund or other professional investor, said one person familiar with the matter. Obama Proposes $3.77 Trillion Budget to Revive Debt Talks (Bloomberg) Obama’s budget for fiscal 2014 proposes $50 billion for roads, bridges and other public works, $1 billion to spur manufacturing innovation and $1 billion for an initiative to revamp higher education, according to administration officials who briefed reporters and asked to not be identified. It renews his request to raise $580 billion in revenue by limiting deductions and closing loopholes for top earners. Obama again seeks adoption of the Buffett rule, named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett, to impose a 30 percent minimum tax on households with more than $1 million in annual income. The administration projects the deficit for fiscal 2014 would be $744 billion, or 4.4 percent of the economy. That would mark the first budget shortfall of less than $1 trillion since Obama took office. Soros Tells Germany It Should Leave The Euro (CNBC) "The financial problem is that Germany is imposing the wrong policies on the euro zone. Austerity doesn't work. You can't shrink the debt burden by shrinking the budget deficit," Soros, the founder and chairman of Soros Fund Management,said during a speech in Germany's financial center of Frankfurt on Tuesday. Ackman Expected To Stick With JCPenney (NYP) The New York hedge-fund tycoon is expected to stay put as JCPenney’s biggest investor, with a nearly 18 percent stake, and back the retailer’s scramble to repair the damage done by ousted CEO Ron Johnson, sources told The Post. That’s despite the fact that it was Ackman who installed Johnson at the helm of the company 17 months ago with an ambitious but doomed plan to overhaul the aging department-store chain. “The priority right now is stabilizing the company and finding a permanent CEO,” according to an insider close to the situation, adding that Ackman appeared to be playing a key role in the process. Blackstone Solicits Partners For Dell Bid (WSJ) Blackstone Group LP is talking to several technology companies about potentially joining its bid to take computer maker Dell private, people familiar with the matter said. Any technology firm that joins the private-equity giant's potential bid for Dell would likely be involved in the company's strategic direction as well as having a financial role, the people said. Blackstone has discussed a number of scenarios with prospective partners, including an equity stake, debt financing or a combination of the two, one of the people said. City officials say they're powerless to stop Time Square's growing hoard of costume-wearing hustlers (NYP) The city used to tell the furry fiends where they could set up. But a court decision last year ruled the characters could not be treated like vendors because they are entertainers who work for tips. “Our ability to treat these characters as vendors was eliminated,” said city lawyer Gabriel Taussig. “And, absent of vending laws, there is no other law that comes close to dealing with where they can be located.” The most recent trouble came when Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, who was dressed as Cookie Monster, got into a tussle with the toddler son of Bollywood star Parmita Katkar after the mom said she didn’t have the money to tip for a picture. His bust followed a slew of similar cases, including a man dressed as Super Mario who was accused of groping a woman and an Elmo who went on an anti-Semitic rant. Some Fed Members Fear Monetary Policy Effects (CNBC) Minutes from the most recent Fed meeting suggest that members have grown increasingly concerned that things could get messy if it continues its policies too far into the future. Among those concerns are instability to the financial system, a sudden rise in interest rates and inflation. Bill Gross Raises Holdings of Treasuries to Highest Since July (Bloomberg) Gross raised the holdings of Treasuries held in his $289 billion flagship fund at Pacific Investment Management Co. to 33 percent of assets last month, the highest level since July. JPM On A Whale Of A Roll (NYP) Jamie Dimon is hoping another solid performance from his sprawling bank can finally sink the London Whale. JPMorgan Chase will kick off bank earnings as it nears the anniversary of the embarrassing trading scandal, which Dimon famously dismissed back on April 13 of last year as a “tempest in a teapot.” The bank is expected to benefit from the continuing stabilization of the US economy that could allow it to release capital reserves again — a move that will have the effect of helping boost its overall earnings. Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg estimates that JPMorgan will report earnings of $1.33 a share — 6 cents less than consensus estimates of $1.39 a share. Some analysts believe that the bank will beat the consensus by a few cents after buying back shares and hiking its dividend to 38 cents. Soup heist ends with Tamarac turnpike arrest (Sun Sentinel) A Florida Highway Patrol trooper tracking the rig's GPS signal arrested the driver for the alleged soup heist on Florida's Turnpike in Tamarac about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Eusebio Diaz Acosta, 51, of Orlando, was charged with two counts of grand theft — one for the tractor trailer and one for the cargo, with a combined value of $350,000. "These are very unusual facts," Broward County Judge John "Jay" Hurley said as he read from Acosta's arrest report Monday morning. "The court has seen many things stolen. … This is the first time the court's ever seen $75,000 worth of soup stolen."