Opening Bell: 7.13.17
New Lloyd, Same Goldman (Businessweek)
Some current and former partners, as well as members of the investment community, are less convinced. They worry Blankfein hasn’t done enough to adapt to slower economic growth and tougher capital rules that have handcuffed his traders. And while Trump’s proposed tax cuts and plans for looser banking regulation may help, few expect industry revenue to bounce back to the days when Wall Street gorged on derivatives deals.
They’re The World’s Fastest Traders. Why Aren’t They Thriving? (BBG)
“The pure speed trades are squeezed on two sides, by rising cost of infrastructure and low volatility, which gives you less reward for being the fastest,” said Eric Pritchett, chief executive officer and head of risk at Boston-based electronic trading firm Potamus Trading LLC. “That doesn’t mean there’s not still a big prize if you’re the winner. So it ends up being a better opportunity for the few firms who remain in it.”
RBS Paid a Big Penalty Over Mortgages. Its Next One May Be Bigger (BBG)
RBS’s FHFA penalty was bigger than those paid by Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG and was second only to that of Bank of America Corp. Those four banks went on to reach Justice Department settlements of $6 billion to $12 billion each. If the relationship between FHFA penalties and subsequent Justice Department penalties continues to hold, says Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Elliott Stein, RBS could end up facing a bill exceeding $11 billion, or twice its FHFA settlement.
Uber Offers a Thankless Job, and the Applications Flood In (NYT)
Among those up for consideration have been Susan Wojcicki, who leads YouTube. Others include Adam Bain, Twitter’s former chief operating officer; David Cush, a former chief executive at Virgin America; the former Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer; and Thomas Staggs, a former chief operating officer at Disney, according to three other people familiar with the search. It was unclear what level of interest, if any, these executives had expressed in the Uber job.
Airline Passenger Checks Single Can of Beer As His Only Piece of Luggage (GrubStreet)
Initially, Stinson says he faced “some resistance” at the automated check-in kiosk. “It wouldn’t register the can as a bag,” he explains, “so I had to use some creative tray stacking to fool it into thinking there was a bag on the conveyor. Was bloody stoked when it finally went green and zoomed off.” He also “half didn’t expect” he’d ever see his Emu Export again, but tells the Daily Mail he was 100 percent prepared to make a lost-luggage claim in the event he didn’t. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.
Shares Rise After Dovish Yellen Comments (WSJ) and Fed chair Yellen’s inflation concern buoys markets (FT
Someone held up a 'buy bitcoin' sign during Yellen's testimony to Congress (CNBC)
Bitcoin subsequently climbed toward session highs and traded 3.7 percent higher, at $2,418.46, as of 2:27 p.m. ET, according to CoinDesk.
This is nuts. When’s the crash? (FT Alphaville)
Time for some real talk, fund managers: Maybe this is old-fashioned, but I was brought up to believe that risky borrowers should make a legal promise to save payments for bondholders, not any old shareholder who wanders in off the street. Or, if investors choose to skip the covenants, they should at least make sure they’re dealing with a creditworthy borrower. But last month, an unsecured Caa1-rated bond got that kind of deal!
MORGAN STANLEY: 'Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking' (BI)
"The ecosystem has focused more on value speculation rather than the foot leather-eating work of increasing acceptance - way easier to trade speculatively than convince new merchants to accept the cryptocurrency," the bank said.
Cards Against Humanity releases more expensive 'For Her' edition (UPI)
"Everyone hates it when the men retire to the parlor to discuss the economy and the various issues of the day. What are us ladies supposed to do?" the game's website asks. "Now there's an answer. Cards Against Humanity for Her. It's exactly the same as the original Cards Against Humanity game, but the box is pink and it costs $5 more."