Posts Tagged ‘JP Morgan’

The Week Unpeeled

Bloomberg terminals and the journalists behind them made headlines last week, after an exclusive in The New York Post alleged that reporters were “spying” on customers by looking at what functions were being used and whether they were logging into terminals (prompting calls to Goldman Sachs at one point about whether a partner had left the firm when a terminal had been left idle).  The story, which became front-page news over the weekend, Goldman and JP Morgan officials were blasting Bloomberg for snooping over security in using the ubiquitous boxes. The Fed and Treasury are now looking into the issue, so the story will have long legs no doubt.

Elsewhere:

  • The Dow continued its rally, ending at a record close Friday of 15,118, and the S&P 500 another record close of 1,633;
  • The Fed said it is planning (timing uncertain) its wind-down its massive bond-buying program, which was designed to stimulate the economy;
  • NBC News is expected to name Deborah Turness, the head of ITV News in Britain, as president, the first woman president of a network news division in the US;
  • Alan Abelson, a top editor of Barron’s and columnist for “Up and Down Wall Street, died; and

Researchers last week announced that carbon levels have reached their highest levels in “millions of years” on earth, which no doubt will brings more attention to climate change issues. End of Story

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The Week Unpeeled

Little Cyprus became the big focus last week for Russian oligarchs and global bankers, currency and credit traders as the island nation rejected a bailout deal that would have imposed a heavy tax on deposits (many reportedly Russian).  Geopolitical drama will continue no doubt for a republic with fewer than 1 million people.

Elsewhere:

  • Turkey and Israel have resolved a long-standing dispute, in a truce brokered by President Obama on his Mideast diplomatic trip;
  • The Dow ended down 0.2 percent to end Friday at 14,512, hurt by Cyprus tempest, which had a bigger negative impact on the Euro markets;
  • The bidders continue to take shape for Dell with Blackstone reportedly looking at all or part or joining forces with GE for the financial-services arm;
  • PPR, which includes such holdings as Gucci and Puma, has rebranded as Kering (smacks of Breton word “home”) in its continual evolution from a one-time timber-trading company;
  • JP Morgan won the “best crisis campaign” award from IR Magazine for its handling of the London whale trading loss;
  • As Pope Francis began his first official duties, the Church of England installed Justin Welby, as the archbishop of Canterbury, a former oil exec who like the pontiff is focusing on simplicity and modesty (the new modern?);
  • NBC’s “The Tonight Show” may be moving back to New York and will eventually – probably next year -- turn the microphone over to Jimmy Fallon from Jay Leno; and
  • David Bowie has released his first album in a decade (remember when his “receivables” were once securitized into Bowie Bonds?). End of Story
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The Week Unpeeled

Hot water all around: First and definitely foremost last week, the Senate slammed JP Morgan for its London “whale” trades amid accusations that the bank “brushed off internal warnings and misled regulators and investigators.” (Some estimates put firm’s loss as much as $6.2 billion on the trades.)  In addition, the Fed cited weaknesses in stress tests capital planning for JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, which could limit plans for dividends or buybacks. And then, SAC Capital was hit with a more than $600 million penalty to settle two insider-trading cases.  What gives, especially post Dodd-Frank and bailouts and cliffs (oh, my!).  More to be seen but certainly questions on ethics, control and hubris will surface.

Elsewhere:

  • The Dow, after a 10-day streak of gains, which included several for the record books, ended Friday at 14,514, up 11 percent for the year;
  • Amid the record-setting advances, it’s interesting but no surprise that Lipper Funds (with Oppenheimer) ran a six-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on Friday built on theme that “stocks are back”;
  • Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S4, with kinda wild features like a SmartScroll that can follow your eyeballs or hand motions to scroll, in an aggressive bid to take a bigger share of the US market;
  • FLOTUS Michelle Obama will appear on the cover of Vogue in April;
  • Anna Wintour was named artistic director of Conde Nast, adding to her 25-year role as editor of Vogue; and
  • The conclave of Cardinals elected Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio from Argentina, aka Pope Francis, as first Latin American pontiff. End of Story
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The Week Unpeeled

Headlines dealt us lots of news, events and confessions last week, with much of the recent focus on Martin Luther King Day and the inauguration Monday. President Obama’s official second-term White House photo was unveiled, with him looking a little more relaxed with a big grin, completely unmatched to his rhetoric to Congress and House Republicans all week on fiscal matters.  (The debt ceiling increase was passed for the next three months.)  Elsewhere:

  • Transcripts from Fed meetings during the financial meltdown were released, revealing a central bank that “failed to grasp dangers” (FTWeekend headline) of 2007 crisis;
  • Lance (“One Big Lie”) Armstrong confessed but the bigger story it seemed was not many tuned in to watch it on Oprah (only 3.2 million viewers), suggesting no one cares (my vote) and Oprah and big networks are kinda out of touch of what news counts (my other vote);
  • Likewise in the few-care-but-I-can’t-stop-reading-this-ghost story, Manti Te’o. (WSJ poll found 1 percent “don’t care” about it.) Enuf said;
  • Facebook dived into the search business with a tool called “graph search” (Google it for details);
  • Banks reported mixed results, with Goldman strong and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon taking a whale of a pay cut (actually reports differed from 30 percent to 50 percent reductions);
  • Dell in talks to go private;
  • The Dow ended at a five-year high at 13,649;
  • Swatch bought Harry Winston (priceless and timeless!);
  • Daniel Edelman, PR giant, and Dear Abby (also priceless and timeless!) died; and
  • The First Lady got bangs.
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The Week Unpeeled

Hold the Phone: Interesting article in Financial Times over the weekend that examined how many times Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared to seek outside counsel by examining phone records.  The highest number of outside-the-Beltway calls went to Larry Fink at Blackrock at 49 for the 18 months from Jan 2011 to June 2012, followed by Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan at 17.

Elsewhere:

  • The US government posted a $1.089 trillion deficit in the fiscal year that ended Sept 30, actually down slightly from a year ago;
  • The Dow ended a down week Friday at 13,328;
  • The EU was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, probably surprising many;
  • RBS plans to sell branches to Santandar collapsed with bidders led by Virgin Money rushing in for the large number of potential customers;
  • The proposed merger between BAE Systems and EADS collapsed due to political deadlock among London, Paris and Berlin;
  • Angela Merkel was guarded by 7,000 police officers during her first visit to Athens since eurozone crisis started;
  • Insurance company Direct Line launched on the London stock market, with  shares rising more than 7% on their debut trading session;
  • Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed UK tourist numbers fell year-on-year by 5pc in August 2012, with 3m people visiting the UK in the month
  • Cost of everyday items are set to rise due to the worst wheat harvest in Britain since the 1980s, a heat wave in Russia and the drought in the United States; and
  • Npower and British Gas fuelled fears of a "cold winter" after they raised gas and electricity prices for households. End of Story
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