Opening Bell: 9.13.17
Wall Street Chiefs Signal a Lingering Slump (BBG)
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are seeing declines ranging from 15 percent to 20 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year ago, executives announced at an investor conference hosted by Barclays Plc in New York. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. didn’t put a number on its performance, even as co-President Harvey Schwartz lamented “a pretty challenging environment.” RELATED: Pandit Says 30% of Bank Jobs May Disappear in Next Five Years
Goldman Banks on Lending to Grow (WSJ)
Lending to wealthy clients, companies and consumers could add $2 billion of new revenue over the next three years, said Mr. Schwartz at a global financial-services conference hosted by Barclays PLC. That is twice what a revamp of Goldman’s vaunted bond-trading business could produce, he added. “We’re focused on the future,” said Mr. Schwartz, Goldman’s co-chief operating officer. “And when I say focused, I mean completely obsessed.”
Goldman Faces Ruts in Road to $5 Billion (Gadfly)
For clients, the firm's stink of desperation gives them an upper hand. Even if Goldman poaches their longtime favorite banker as a way to enter the inner circle, they can -- and should -- demand the lowest fees or best terms in exchange for winning their business.
‘Friends of the Court’ Have Hidden Ties to Big Investors (BBG)
The previously unreported episode casts light on an increasingly influential feature of the U.S. legal system known as the amicus curiae, or friend of the court. Intended to provide judges with outside perspectives, amicus briefs have proliferated in recent years. But sometimes these “friends” are the puppets of financial interests, and judges can’t always see who’s pulling the strings. When that happens, the briefs become a tool for well-funded litigants to try to tip the scales of justice.
Wild dog packs count sneezes to vote democratically (Qz)
“We…couldn’t quite believe it when our analyses confirmed our suspicions. The more sneezes that occurred, the more likely it was that the pack moved off and started hunting. The sneeze acts like a type of voting system.”
US companies transformed into 800lb gorilla in bond market (FT)
Thirty US companies together have more than $800bn of fixed-income investments. Their holdings of Treasuries, corporate, agency and municipal debt, as well as asset- and mortgage-backed securities, means they collectively have more firepower in debt and credit markets than high-profile asset managers including AllianceBernstein, Invesco and Franklin Templeton. “They are asset managers in their own right,” said Ramaswamy Variankaval, head of JPMorgan’s corporate finance advisory group.
How Warren Buffett broke American capitalism (FT)
We can decide who to admire. Mr Buffett is brilliant at buying into monopoly profits, but he does not start companies or gamble on new ideas. America is full of entrepreneurs who do. Elon Musk is investing in two wildly risky and competitive sectors: automobiles and space. Even the much-reviled Koch brothers built most of their fortune on investment in the real economy. Celebrate that kind of business. It is the kind America needs.
Face ID Raises Some Scary Questions—Here Are Some Answers (Gizmodo)
Facial recognition is just plain creepy, and Apple is going to have an uphill battle convincing consumers that they want to store a complex 3D map of their faces in their phones. After all, facial recognition unlocking has been available for years from Android, Samsung, and Windows but hasn’t gained serious market saturation. Faces feel personal in a way that makes us not want to turn them into passwords, and many facial recognition offerings have been susceptible to spoofing with selfies and masks.
There's Blood In The Water In Silicon Valley (BuzzFeed)
Facebook should probably ease out of the business of bland background statements and awkward photo ops, and start worrying about congressional testimony. Amazon, whose market power doesn’t fall into the categories envisioned by pre-internet antitrust law, is developing a bipartisan lobby that wants to break it up. Google’s public affairs efforts are starting to look a bit like the oil industry’s. These are the existential collisions with political power that can shake and redefine industries and their leaders, not the nickel-and-dime regulatory games Silicon Valley has played to date.
Piano Man trying to win back girlfriend with public performance stops playing after being 'punched in the head' (Mirror)
A 'Piano Man' trying to win back his girlfriend with a round-the-clock public performance has officially stopped playing amid claims he was punched in the head. "Creepy" Luke Howard went viral after he set up the instrument in on College Green, in Bristol, and refused to leave. He sparked a furious backlash on social media after users slammed his actions as "abusive" and "akin to stalking". Luke continued to play over the weekend but has now stopped. He claims he was punched in the head at around 4am today - but added the reason he packed up was because he realised he had "spectacularly failed" in his original aim.