By volume, December wasn’t an incredible month for US jobs. But the report did help cap a year that saw average hourly earnings rise 2.9%—the best since 2009 and a “turning point for the overall economy,” according to one...more
1/9/2017
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Automotive Industry ,
Big Data ,
Bond Markets ,
China ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Framework ,
Economic Development ,
Environmental Violations ,
Facebook ,
FBI ,
Federal Register ,
Financial Institutions ,
Germany ,
Google ,
Insurance Industry ,
Job Creation ,
Liquidity ,
Microsoft ,
National Emissions Standards ,
NYDFS ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
The Fed’s anticipating faster growth in the coming year and rate increases to go with it. That and a whole lot of uncertainty about the incoming administration are the big takeaways from the Fed’s December meeting minutes....more
1/5/2017
/ Amazon ,
Apple ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Facebook ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Forex ,
Google ,
Hedge Funds ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Market Manipulation ,
Microsoft ,
Mortgages ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology Sector
SEC chief Mary Jo White has announced that she’ll be stepping down in early 2017—an expected move that nevertheless drives home the reality of the big changes ahead for the securities industry (and many others)....more
11/15/2016
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Bonds ,
Facebook ,
Fannie Mae ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
GAO ,
Google ,
Hedge Funds ,
Housing Market ,
Mortgages ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stocks ,
Stress Tests ,
Technology Sector ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers
Faced with new Department of Labor rules requiring investment advisers to act in the best interest of their retirement account customers, Morgan Stanley’s decided to let its customers keeping paying for retirement advice with...more
10/27/2016
/ AT&T ,
Banks ,
Cable Television Providers ,
China ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Driverless Cars ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Google ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Innovative Technology ,
Investment Adviser ,
Morgan Stanley ,
NYSE ,
OCC ,
Private Equity ,
Retirement Plan ,
Technology ,
Time Warner Cable ,
Transportation Industry
OPEC has reached a tentative deal among its 14 member nations to “modestly cut” their oil output toward the end of the year in an effort to shore up sagging oil prices–an announcement that immediately sent global oil prices...more
9/29/2016
/ Anheuser-Busch ,
Bank Accounts ,
Banks ,
Cross-Selling ,
Energy Sector ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fraud ,
Google ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Mergers ,
Municipal Bonds ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Underwriting ,
Wells Fargo
The Deal Professor weighs in on Yahoo’s announcement last week of the hack of roughly 500 million of its customers’ data and the specter of the MAC (material adverse change) that Verizon may choose to invoke to dance away...more
9/26/2016
/ Acquisitions ,
Bank Accounts ,
Banking Sector ,
Cross-Selling ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Distressed Debt ,
Google ,
Hackers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Material Adverse Effects ,
Mergers ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Salesforce ,
Search Engines ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Stress Tests ,
Takeover Bids ,
Twitter ,
Verizon ,
Wells Fargo ,
Yahoo!
Continual rejections worked for Hershey in fending off Mondelez’s takeover bid. The Deal Professor thinks that Tronc faces considerable risks in following the same strategy with Gannett’s repeated overtures....more
8/31/2016
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Acquisitions ,
Apple ,
Banks ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Google ,
Hersheys ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Mergers ,
Monsanto ,
Public Offerings ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sharing Economy ,
Stock Exchange ,
Tax Evasion ,
Theranos ,
Uber ,
Whistleblowers ,
Zika
More details have emerged from the February cyberheist that resulted in the theft of more than $81 million from Bangladesh’s account at the NY Fed, including a pretty significant lack of critical concern from the bank itself....more
8/15/2016
/ Advertising ,
Automotive Loans ,
Banks ,
China ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
FHLB ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Google ,
Investment Funds ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Moody's ,
Nasdaq ,
Ratings ,
RBS ,
RMBS ,
Securities ,
Share Buybacks ,
Stocks ,
Takeover Bids ,
Venezuela ,
Volcker Rule
A federal judge in Idaho has dismissed a $24 billion lawsuit against Credit Suisse alleging that the bank and real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield ran a “predatory loan-to-own scheme that . . . loaded four luxury ski and...more
7/29/2016
/ Amazon ,
Banks ,
Bitcoin ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Derivatives ,
E-Commerce ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
General Electric ,
Google ,
Industry Examinations ,
Olympics ,
Oracle ,
Predatory Lending ,
Quarterly Report ,
Real Estate Market ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Terrorism Funding ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
US banks made a strong showing in part 2 of the latest round of the Fed’s stress tests. Only Morgan Stanley didn’t pass unconditionally (concerns over the company’s “internal controls and processes” tripped it up), while the...more
6/30/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Bitcoin ,
Cable Operators ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Entertainment Industry ,
ETFs ,
EU ,
Film Industry ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
General Electric ,
Google ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internal Controls ,
Member State ,
Merger Agreements ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Referendums ,
Sale of Assets ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SIFIs ,
Stocks ,
Stress Tests ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
Lending Club week continues here on the Brief, where the Deal Professor tries to take the good (disrupting the traditional banking system and opening up new paths of credit for consumers) with the bad (yet another...more
5/18/2016
/ Bank of America ,
Banking Sector ,
Bonds ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Data Breach ,
Distressed Debt ,
Financial Markets ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Google ,
HUD ,
Lending Club ,
Mortgages ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Pandora ,
Stock Drop Litigation ,
Whistleblowers
Record-setting executive compensation aside (hey, that was so last year), hedge funds have been hammered by the recent spate of mega-deals come undone. Particularly hard hit are the funds focusing on “merger arbitrage”—a type...more
5/12/2016
/ Automotive Industry ,
Banks ,
Brazil ,
Financial Institutions ,
Google ,
Impeachment ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mitsubishi ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Nissan ,
Online Advertisements ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Payday Loans ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Shareholder Activism
The Fed’s patience on rate hikes coupled with surging commodities prices (including oil over $40/barrel for the first time since December) helped push the Dow into positive territory for the year – WSJ...
So apparently...more
So the bull market may be on its way out of town after a nearly 7-year stretch [care to jump on the “blame the Fed” bandwagon?], but even when combined with usual predictors like declines in industrial production and...more