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Tansy_Gold

(17,851 posts)
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 05:18 PM Oct 2015

STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 29 October 2015

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 29 October 2015[font color=black][/font]


SMW for 28 October 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 28 October 2015
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Dow Jones 17,779.52 +198.09 (1.13%)
S&P 500 2,090.35 +24.46 (1.18%)
Nasdaq 5,095.69 +65.54 (1.30%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.09% +0.06 (2.96%)
30 Year 2.87% +0.02 (0.70%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts
08/03/15 Former City (London) trader Tom Hayes found guilty of rigging global Libor interest rates. Each fo eight counts carries up to 10 yr. sentence.
08/21/15 Charles Antonucci Sr, former pres. Park Ave. Bank sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and attempt to steal $11MM in TARP bailout funds, as well as $37.5MM fraud on OK insurance company. To pay $54MM in restitution and give up additional $11MM.
09/21/15 Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologizes for VW cheating on air quality standards with emission testing avoidance device. Stock drops 20%, fines may total $18B.
09/22/15 Stewart Parnell, CEO Peanut Corp. of America, sentenced to 28 years in prison for selling salmonella-tainted peanut butter that killed nine.





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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]


19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 29 October 2015 (Original Post) Tansy_Gold Oct 2015 OP
+200 pts on what? a budget deal? Demeter Oct 2015 #1
no rate hike today? DemReadingDU Oct 2015 #2
That too, I suppose Demeter Oct 2015 #3
Making Insider Trading Legal By Patrick Radden Keefe Demeter Oct 2015 #4
Clinton Surprises Colbert — Yes, I'd Let the Banks Fail Demeter Oct 2015 #5
Top 100 CEOs Are Sitting on a Staggering Retirement Nest Egg of Nearly 5 Billion Demeter Oct 2015 #6
Last week it was "back to the Future", this week, it's back to the Past Demeter Oct 2015 #7
This 11-year-old is selling cryptographically secure passwords for $2 each Demeter Oct 2015 #8
Remember the Guy Who Gave His Employees a $70,000 Minimum Wage? Here’s What Happened Next. Demeter Oct 2015 #9
Pfizer said to be in talks with Allergan to forge $330 billion drugs giant Demeter Oct 2015 #10
Three banks join R3 blockchain consortium taking total to 25 Demeter Oct 2015 #11
House approves two-year budget deal Demeter Oct 2015 #12
Fed Considers December Rate Rise, Sees ‘Moderate’ Expansion Demeter Oct 2015 #13
Shell Has Biggest Loss in More Than a Decade on Price Slump Demeter Oct 2015 #14
Deutsche Bank to Shrink Workforce by About 26,000 in Revamp 1/4 WORKFORCE! Demeter Oct 2015 #15
Deutsche Bank Said to Near $200 Million Sanctions Settlement Demeter Oct 2015 #16
Deutsche Bank Plans to Eliminate Dividend for Two Years in Overhaul Demeter Oct 2015 #17
wow DemReadingDU Oct 2015 #19
Baby, it's COLD outside! Demeter Oct 2015 #18
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
3. That too, I suppose
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 05:35 PM
Oct 2015

The market is happy when bad things DON'T happen....makes perfect sense. As much as any of it does. Because good things are not in the forecast....for the foreseeable future.

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
4. Making Insider Trading Legal By Patrick Radden Keefe
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 05:41 PM
Oct 2015
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/making-insider-trading-legal

Do you run a hedge fund? If so, I have exciting news. The prominent campaign by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney in Manhattan, to crack down on insider trading in the three-trillion-dollar hedge-fund industry has just ground to an inglorious halt. Late last week, it was quietly announced that prosecutors would drop all charges against one of Bharara’s highest-profile targets, Michael Steinberg, who worked at the fourteen-billion-dollar hedge fund S.A.C. Capital Advisors.

Steinberg, a trusted deputy of Steven A. Cohen, the founder of S.A.C., was convicted of insider trading, in 2013. (I wrote about the investigation of S.A.C. for the magazine last year.) But Steinberg appealed. Last December, in a separate case, a New York appeals court overturned the convictions of two other hedge-fund traders and issued an opinion that dramatically narrowed the definition of insider trading by requiring that prosecutors prove both that the tipper received some sort of compensation for sharing the information and that the individual who traded on that information knew it was an illegal tip. Bharara’s office challenged the ruling, but, earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Under this new interpretation of insider trading, Steinberg appeared likely to win his appeal—so Bharara dropped the charges against him, and also dismissed the guilty pleas of six coöperating witnesses who had acknowledged trading on material nonpublic information. The United States Attorney’s office maintains that the majority of its insider-trading convictions will remain unchallenged by this change in the legal landscape. But the truth is that if you operate a hedge fund and care to structure your business around the gaping loopholes that the Supreme Court has implicitly endorsed, insider trading is now effectively legal in the United States.

Successful hedge funds are like vast information combines, voraciously churning market data and analysis. At its height, S.A.C. employed about a thousand people, and portfolio managers were charged with generating investment ideas upon which the firm would bet enormous sums. But, because there are so many hedge funds, each with its own army of analysts, the trick is to find some nugget of information that the rest of the market doesn’t know. This is where the culture of insider trading took hold...
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
5. Clinton Surprises Colbert — Yes, I'd Let the Banks Fail
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 05:48 PM
Oct 2015
http://www.alternet.org/media/hillart-clinton-tells-colbert-shed-let-banks-fail?akid=13610.227380.bmSsRp&rd=1&src=newsletter1044853&t=9

"We have to raise the minimum wage, it's a poverty wage," Clinton said. "It's disgraceful people are working full-time and can't get out of poverty." The most startling revelation, however, came when Colbert pushed back on Clinton's noted relationship with Wall Street.

"If you're President," Colbert asked. "And the banks fail. Do we let them fail this time?"

"Yes, yes," Clinton insisted. "Under Dodd-Frank that is what will happen... they have to know, their shareholders have to know, they will fail. And if they are 'too big to fail' under my plan, and others that have been proposed, they will have to be broken up."

It's a rather vague claim but significant nonetheless. Laying out, with vigor, the specter of bank closures is an unusual step for the historically pro-Wall Street Clinton. Does Clinton mean it, or is she just grandstanding?

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
6. Top 100 CEOs Are Sitting on a Staggering Retirement Nest Egg of Nearly 5 Billion
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 05:50 PM
Oct 2015
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/top-100-ceos-are-sitting-staggering-retirement-nest-egg-nearly-5-billion?akid=13610.227380.bmSsRp&rd=1&src=newsletter1044853&t=11

Forget retirement worries: once a fat cat, always a fat cat. The top 100 chief executive are sitting on pension pots worth $4.9bn (£3.2bn) – equal to the total retirement savings of 116 million of the poorest Americans, according to a study released by the Institute of Policy Studies on Wednesday.

The average of the top 100 CEO retirement funds is $49.3m, enough to generate monthly retirement cheques of $277,686. The average monthly payment works out at 16 times the amount president Obama is due to receive when he leaves office...

AND SO ON, AND SO FORTH

WHO WILL BELL THIS CAT?
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
7. Last week it was "back to the Future", this week, it's back to the Past
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 06:41 PM
Oct 2015

Wall Street Crash of 1929
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, the Great Crash, or the Stock Market Crash of 1929, began on October 24, 1929, and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, when taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout. The crash signaled the beginning of the 10-year Great Depression that affected all Western industrialized countries.

The Roaring Twenties, the decade that followed World War I and led to the Crash, was a time of wealth and excess. Building on post-war optimism, rural Americans emigrated to the cities in vast numbers throughout the decade with the hopes of finding a more prosperous life in the ever growing expansion of America's industrial sector. While the American cities prospered, the vast emigration from rural areas continued to neglect the US agriculture industry, and created widespread financial despair among American farmers throughout the decade. This would later be blamed as one of the key factors that led to the 1929 stock market crash.

Despite the dangers of speculation, many believed that the stock market would continue to rise indefinitely. On March 25, 1929, after the Federal Reserve warned of excessive speculation, a mini crash occurred as investors started to sell stocks at a rapid pace, exposing the market's shaky foundation. Two days later, banker Charles E. Mitchell announced his company the National City Bank would provide $25 million in credit to stop the market's slide. Mitchell's move brought a temporary halt to the financial crisis and call money declined from 20 to eight percent.

However, the American economy showed ominous signs of trouble: steel production declined, construction was sluggish, automobile sales went down, and consumers were building up high debts because of easy credit. SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE?


Despite all these economic trouble signs and the market breaks of March and May 1929, stocks resumed their advance in June and the gains continued almost unabated until early September 1929 (the Dow Jones average gained more than 20% between June and September). The market had been on a nine-year run that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average increase in value tenfold, peaking at 381.17 on September 3, 1929. Shortly before the crash, economist Irving Fisher famously proclaimed, "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." I THINK THEY MEANT FATUOUSLY


The optimism and financial gains of the great bull market were shaken on September 18, 1929, when prices on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) abruptly fell a few days after a well publicized warning from financial expert Roger Babson that "a crash was coming". The initial September decline was thus called the "Babson Break" in the press.

On September 20, the London Stock Exchange officially crashed when top British investor Clarence Hatry and many of his associates were jailed for fraud and forgery. The London crash greatly weakened the optimism of American investment in markets overseas. In the days leading up to the crash, the market was severely unstable. Periods of selling and high volumes were interspersed with brief periods of rising prices and recovery. Economist and author Jude Wanniski later correlated these swings with the prospects for passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which was then being debated in Congress.

On October 24 ("Black Thursday&quot , the market lost 11 percent of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading. The huge volume meant that the report of prices on the ticker tape in brokerage offices around the nation was hours late, so investors had no idea what most stocks were actually trading for at that moment, increasing panic. AND NOW, WE HAVE HIGH-FREQUENCY TRADING, WHICH DOES THE SAME THING--CONCEALS AND CONFUSES SALES PRICING.


Several leading Wall Street bankers met to find a solution to the panic and chaos on the trading floor. The meeting included Thomas W. Lamont, acting head of Morgan Bank; Albert Wiggin, head of the Chase National Bank; and Charles E. Mitchell, president of the National City Bank of New York. They chose Richard Whitney, vice president of the Exchange, to act on their behalf.

With the bankers' financial resources behind him, Whitney placed a bid to purchase a large block of shares in U.S. Steel at a price well above the current market. As traders watched, Whitney then placed similar bids on other "blue chip" stocks. This tactic was similar to one that ended the Panic of 1907. It succeeded in halting the slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered, closing with it down only 6.38 points for the day. The rally continued on Friday, October 25, and the half day session on Saturday the 26th but, unlike 1907, the respite was only temporary.

Over the weekend, the events were covered by the newspapers across the United States. On October 28, "Black Monday", more investors facing margin calls decided to get out of the market, and the slide continued with a record loss in the Dow for the day of 38.33 points, or 13%.

The next day, "Black Tuesday", October 29, 1929, about 16 million shares traded as the panic selling reached its crescendo. Some stocks actually had no buyers at any price that day ("air pockets&quot . The Dow lost an additional 30 points, or 12 percent, amid rumors that U.S. President Herbert Hoover would not veto the pending Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act. The volume of stocks traded on October 29, 1929 was a record that was not broken for nearly 40 years.

On October 29, William C. Durant joined with members of the Rockefeller family and other financial giants to buy large quantities of stocks to demonstrate to the public their confidence in the market, but their efforts failed to stop the large decline in prices. Due to the massive volume of stocks traded that day, the ticker did not stop running until about 7:45 p.m. that evening. The market had lost over $30 billion in the space of two days which included $14 billion on October 29 alone.

ARE WE THERE, YET? MAYBE THE MARKET WENT UP IN RELIEF THAT THE DAY IS OVER WITHOUT A REPEAT...

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
8. This 11-year-old is selling cryptographically secure passwords for $2 each
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 06:43 PM
Oct 2015
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/10/this-11-year-old-is-selling-cryptographically-secure-passwords-for-2-each/

We now live in a world where a New York City sixth grader is making money selling strong passwords. Earlier this month, Mira Modi, 11, began a small business at dicewarepasswords.com, where she generates six-word Diceware passphrases by hand.

Diceware is a well-known decades-old system for coming up with passwords. It involves rolling actual six-sided dice as a way to generate truly random numbers that are matched to a long list of English words. Those words are then combined into a non-sensical string ("ample banal bias delta gist latex&quot that exhibits true randomness and is therefore difficult to crack. The trick, though, is that these passphrases prove relatively easy for humans to memorize.

"This whole concept of making your own passwords and being super secure and stuff, I don’t think my friends understand that, but I think it’s cool," Modi told Ars by phone.

Modi is no ordinary sixth-grader, either. She’s the daughter of Julia Angwin, a veteran privacy-minded journalist at ProPublica and author of Dragnet Nation.

As part of her research for the book, Angwin employed her daughter to generate Diceware passphrases, and Modi had the idea to turn it into a small business. She began accompanying her mother on various book-related events and selling passwords that she generated on the spot—dice and all. But in-person sales were slow...
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
9. Remember the Guy Who Gave His Employees a $70,000 Minimum Wage? Here’s What Happened Next.
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 06:45 PM
Oct 2015
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/10/23/remember_dan_price_of_gravity_payments_who_gave_his_employees_a_70_000_minimum.html



Before Dan Price caused a media firestorm by establishing a $70,000 minimum wage at his Seattle company, Gravity Payments ... before Hollywood agents, reality-show producers, and book publishers began throwing elbows for a piece of the hip, 31-year-old entrepreneur with the shoulder-length hair and Brad Pitt looks ... before Rush Limbaugh called him a socialist and Harvard Business School professors asked to study his radical experiment in paying workers ... an entry-level Gravity employee named Jason Haley got really pissed off at him.

It was late 2011. Haley was a 32-year-old phone tech earning about $35,000 a year, and he was in a sour mood. Price had noticed it, and when he spotted Haley outside on a smoking break, he approached. "Seems like something's bothering you," he said. "What's on your mind?"

"You're ripping me off," Haley told him.

Price was taken aback. Haley is shy, not prone to outbursts. "Your pay is based on market rates," Price said. "If you have different data, please let me know. I have no intention of ripping you off." The data doesn't matter, Haley responded: "I know your intentions are bad. You brag about how financially disciplined you are, but that just translates into me not making enough money to lead a decent life."

Price walked away, shocked and hurt. For three days, he groused about the encounter to family and friends. "I felt horrible," he says. "Like a victim." An entrepreneur since he was a teen, Price prided himself on treating employees well at Gravity, which he co-founded in 2004 with his brother Lucas Price. Three years before, as a 16-year-old high school kid, Dan Price saw bar owners being gouged by big financial firms every time they swiped a patron's credit card. By first outsourcing technology, and then building its own systems, Gravity offered lower prices and better service, and grew rapidly for four years—until the Great Recession nearly wiped it out. Traumatized, Price kept a lid on wages even after the economy recovered—to save the company, of course! Why can't employees see that? Yet the more people tried to cheer him up about his wage policy, the worse Price felt.


Finally, he realized why: Haley was right—not only about being underpaid, but also about Price's intentions. "I was so scarred by the recession that I was proactively, and proudly, hurting my staff," he says. Thus began Price's transformation from classic entrepreneur to crusader against income inequality, set on fundamentally changing the way America does business. For three years after his face-off with Haley, Price handed out 20 percent annual raises. Profit growth continued to substantially outpace wage growth. This spring, he spent two weeks running the numbers and battling insomnia before making a dramatic announcement to his 120-member staff on April 13, inviting NBC News and the New York Times to cover it: Over the next three years, he will phase in a minimum wage of $70,000 at Gravity and immediately cut his own salary from $1.1 million to $70,000 to help fund it.



The reaction was tsunamic, with 500 million interactions on social media and NBC's video becoming the most shared in network history. Gravity was flooded with stories from ecstatic workers elsewhere who suddenly got raises from converted bosses who tossed them out like Scrooge after his epiphany—even, in one case, at an apparel factory in Vietnam. Price was cheered at the Aspen Ideas Festival and got an offer from The Apprentice reality-show impresario Mark Burnett to be the new Donald Trump on a show called Billion Dollar Startup. Gravity was inundated with résumés—4,500 in the first week alone—including one from a high-powered 52-year-old Yahoo executive named Tammi Kroll, who was so inspired by Price that she quit her job and in September went to work for Gravity at what she insisted would be an 80–85 percent pay cut. "I spent many years chasing the money," she says. "Now I'm looking for something fun and meaningful."

Price had not only struck a nerve; he had also turbocharged a debate now raging across the American landscape, from presidential forums to barrooms to fast-food restaurants. How much—indeed, how little—should workers be paid?

MORE
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
10. Pfizer said to be in talks with Allergan to forge $330 billion drugs giant
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:33 AM
Oct 2015

PFIZER IS THE GOLDMAN SACHS OF PHARMACEUTICALS...IT BUYS THE COMPETITION, STEALS ITS PRODUCTS, FIRES THE EMPLOYEES (EVEN THE RESEARCHERS), AND SELLS THE HARD ASSETS, LEAVING DEVASTATION IN ITS WAKE AND DESTROYING THE CREATIVITY THAT MAKES PROGRESS.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/29/us-allergan-m-a-pfizer-idUSKCN0SN01P20151029

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc has held early talks with Botox-maker Allergan Plc to discuss what could be the biggest takeover deal this year, the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reported.

The healthcare sector has seen an unprecedented wave of deals since early 2014, from large drugmakers buying up smaller rivals, to consolidation among makers of generic medicines and tie-ups between insurers. A bid for Allergan, which has a market value of $113 billion, would be Pfizer's second recent attempt to acquire a big rival, following its unsuccessful courtship last year of Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca Plc. Combining Allergan and Pfizer, which is worth $219 billion, would create the world's largest healthcare group with a market value of around $330 billion, ahead of Johnson & Johnson on $278 billion...

The potential for lowering Pfizer's tax bill by switching its headquarters from the United States to the United Kingdom was touted by Chief Executive Officer Ian Read as a key reason for the proposed AstraZeneca deal. A takeover of Allergan could offer similar advantages given that the Botox-maker is based in lower-tax Dublin. A U.S. attempt to crack down on such tax avoidance deals led to the collapse of AbbVie Inc's bid to buy Shire Plc, but it is unclear whether those rule changes would preclude potential tax advantages from a Pfizer-Allergan deal.

"When you're the size of Pfizer, an acquisition like this may be the only choice you have in order to be able to move the needle for sequential growth...so the question now becomes, if not this, what, and if not now, when?" said WBB Securities' analyst Stephen Brozak.


Pfizer, the largest U.S. drugmaker, has also been suggested as a possible acquirer of GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Shire, and shares in these two companies fell 1.5 and 1.8 percent on Thursday morning in London...
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
11. Three banks join R3 blockchain consortium taking total to 25
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:34 AM
Oct 2015
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/28/uk-global-banks-blockchain-idUKKCN0SM1UH20151028

Japan's Mizuho Bank, Italy's UniCredit and Stockholm-based Nordea have joined a global consortium of banks led by financial tech firm R3 that is working on a framework for using blockchain technology in markets, the firm said on Wednesday.

Most of the world's biggest banks, with the exception of Chinese lenders, have now signed up to the initiative. It represents the first time banks have collaborated on how the technology that underpins bitcoin, a controversial, web-based "cryptocurrency", can be used in finance.

The three banks announced on Wednesday join 22 others, including JPMorgan, HSBC and Citi, taking the total to 25.

"We have been inundated with interest in this project from banks across the world since launching with an initial nine institutions just over a month ago," said New York-based R3's CEO David Rutter, formerly CEO of electronic trading at ICAP, one of the world's largest interdealer brokers.

The blockchain works as a huge, decentralised ledger of every bitcoin transaction ever made, which is verified and shared by a global network of computers and therefore is virtually tamper-proof. The Bank of England has a team dedicated to it and calls it a "key technological innovation".
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
12. House approves two-year budget deal
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:39 AM
Oct 2015
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-house-approves-two-year-budget-deal-20151028-story.html

The House approved a two-year budget deal Wednesday as retiring House Speaker John A. Boehner sought to quell the bitter budget battles that defined his tenure and provide a smoother transition for his likely successor, Rep. Paul D. Ryan.

The $80-billion bipartisan accord between congressional leaders and President Obama reverses steep spending cuts to defense and domestic programs, and staves off hits to Medicare and Social Security disability benefits. It also raises the federal government’s borrowing limit through March 2017, well after the presidential election.

The bill passed 266 to 167. Every Democrat voted for the deal, as did 79 Republicans. Most GOP lawmakers voted no. The Senate is expected to approve the deal.

“We’re pleased,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). “It’s a compromise.”

*****************

Behind closed doors, signs of GOP unrest were evident. Ryan won 200 votes, well over a majority of the House Republicans, but fewer than the 218 he will need in the upcoming floor vote. Still, even those who voted against him believe he will prevail. A final floor vote for speaker is set for Thursday, almost ensuring the Wisconsin congressman will replace Boehner, the Ohio Republican who called it quits rather than continue clashing with hard-right lawmakers...The last-minute budget accord between Boehner and the White House left Ryan forced to choose between conservatives who oppose the deal and a bipartisan array of lawmakers who are expected to approve it...Early Wednesday, Ryan said, he decided there were "few good options" and he would back the deal.

***************
Now Ryan, who would become the youngest speaker to take the gavel since 1869, is poised to begin his leadership career at odds with the same far-right faction that forced Boehner out. A small but influential group of about 40 conservative Republican lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus split over Ryan's leadership, with some backing another candidate for speaker, Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.). The Freedom Caucus remained united, however, against the budget deal. It "continues the sad pattern of the past five years: a fiscal monstrosity gets negotiated in secret," the group said. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), a member of the Freedom Caucus who voted for Webster and opposed the budget deal, would have preferred to see Ryan stand firmly against it.

“It’s tough when you see deals like the crap we have today," Gosar said. "You can’t keep doing that."

Ryan appears to have escaped much of the blame for the budget deal. He remains popular as the party's fiscal guru and architect of the steep budget cuts and Medicare overhaul in the GOP budget.

"This is Boehner's baby," Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), a Freedom Caucus member, said of the compromise.

The accord pushes most of the budget battles off until after the 2016 presidential election.

But the threat of a possible government shutdown remained as Congress still must pass bills to fund the government at the new spending levels. The first test will come Dec. 11, when current funding expires.

“We’re in a more unified phase, but we still have big issues to deal with,” said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.).
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
13. Fed Considers December Rate Rise, Sees ‘Moderate’ Expansion
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:43 AM
Oct 2015
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-28/fed-sees-moderate-pace-of-economic-growth-as-rates-unchanged

AND NOW THAT THERE'S GOING TO BE GOVERNMENT LARGESS (PAYING THE BILLS, DEBT CEILING AND BUDGET COMPROMISES) THE FED FIGURES IT IS SAFE TO COME OUT....

Federal Reserve policy makers said they will consider tightening policy at their next meeting in December, without making a commitment to act this year, as the economy continues to expand at a “moderate” pace.

Even with a slower pace of recent job gains, “labor market indicators, on balance, show that underutilization of labor resources has diminished since early this year,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement Wednesday following a two-day meeting in Washington.

The Fed removed a line from September’s statement saying that global economic and financial developments “may restrain economic activity somewhat,” saying Wednesday only that the central bank is monitoring the international situation. The committee also added a reference to the possibility of increasing the rate “at its next meeting” based on “realized and expected” progress in reaching goals.

“The Fed is clearly signaling that the default plan is to raise rates in December,” said Dean Maki, chief economist at Point72 Asset Management in Stamford, Connecticut. “It signals that something needs to prevent them from hiking in December rather than that something needs to happen for them to raise.”

THAT WOULD BE SOME CHRISTMAS PRESENT, WOULDN'T IT? THE BIGGEST LUMP OF COAL EVER INSERTED INTO A STOCKING...

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
14. Shell Has Biggest Loss in More Than a Decade on Price Slump
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:46 AM
Oct 2015

RUMOR IS THAT ROTHSCHILDS ARE TIED UP IN SHELL...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-29/shell-reports-70-percent-drop-in-profit-after-oil-price-collapse

Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported its biggest net loss in at least 16 years after Europe’s largest energy group abandoned some projects and lowered its oil-price expectations, resulting in a charge of almost $8 billion.

The loss highlights the pain oil and gas companies are enduring as prices plunge, forcing them into the biggest belt-tightening in a generation. Eni SpA, the Italian oil group, also fell into a loss in the third quarter, while profit slumped at BP Plc and Total SA.

The oil price rout has wiped almost $500 billion since the end of last year from Bloomberg World Oil & Gas Index, which tracks energy stocks globally including Shell, ExxonMobil Inc and Chevron Corp...

THANK YOU, HOUSE OF SAUD!

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
15. Deutsche Bank to Shrink Workforce by About 26,000 in Revamp 1/4 WORKFORCE!
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:48 AM
Oct 2015
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-29/deutsche-bank-to-shrink-workforce-by-about-26-000-by-2018-igby2m1o

Deutsche Bank AG said it will shrink the workforce by about 26,000 people by 2018 as co-Chief Executive Officer John Cryan seeks to improve returns. The shares fell.

The lender will cut about 9,000 jobs on a net basis, almost 10 percent of staff it expects to have at end of the year, and others will leave the company as businesses are sold, Deutsche Bank said on Thursday. The bank will close operations in 10 countries including Mexico, Norway and New Zealand, and move trading businesses from Brazil to global and regional hubs, and reduce the number of investment banking clients.

Cryan, who took over from Anshu Jain in July, is under pressure to lower costs, boost capital buffers and reverse a share slump that has made Deutsche Bank the worst-valued stock among global lenders. His strategy for the firm that includes selling a consumer bank unit and shrinking the investment bank after some investors criticized a similar plan his predecessor proposed in April.

"Deutsche Bank does not have a strategy problem,” Cryan told reporters in Frankfurt. “We know exactly where we want to go. However, Deutsche Bank has faced a grave problem for many years in implementing this strategy. In the last two decades, many strategies and targets were announced, but rarely were they consequently realized."

MORE
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
16. Deutsche Bank Said to Near $200 Million Sanctions Settlement
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:50 AM
Oct 2015

OF COURSE THESE TWO ARTICLES ARE TOTALLY UNRELATED...I'M SURE ALL THE CROOKS HAVE SECURE JOBS

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-29/deutsche-bank-said-to-near-200-million-sanctions-settlement

Deutsche Bank AG is close to settling a regulatory probe into alleged violations of U.S. sanctions laws, probably paying about $200 million, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The New York Department of Financial Services and the Federal Reserve may announce the deal with Germany’s largest bank as soon as next week, the person said, asking not to be identified because the talks are confidential. The agreement wouldn’t resolve investigations opened by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, the person said...

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
17. Deutsche Bank Plans to Eliminate Dividend for Two Years in Overhaul
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 07:53 AM
Oct 2015

ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-28/deutsche-bank-plans-to-scrap-dividend-for-2-years-in-overhaul

...The bank, which has paid a dividend since Germany’s postwar reconstruction, plans to recommend resuming payouts from fiscal year 2017, according to a statement late Wednesday in Frankfurt. The lender wants to lift its common equity Tier 1 ratio, a key measure of financial strength, to at least 12.5 percent by the end of 2018.

Cryan, 54, who took over from Anshu Jain in July, is under pressure to lower expenses, boost capital buffers and reverse a share slump that has made Deutsche Bank the worst-valued stock among global lenders. He is scheduled to present his strategy for the firm on Thursday after some investors criticized a plan his predecessor presented in April.

“I’m expecting Cryan to be really tough on costs because frankly this is the only way to improve the margin of the company,” said Sebastien Pigeon, a Chicago-based analyst covering European financial firms at Morningstar Inc. “More capital and cutting costs, this is what needs to be done unfortunately. And it’s going to be painful for the employees.”

One such step emerged Wednesday: The firm is closing offices in Chile and Peru and transferring some Brazil operations, such as equity and fixed-income trading, to New York as part of its restructuring, people familiar with the decision said. The company employed about 400 people in those countries last year, mainly in Brazil, according to its 2014 financial statements...

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
18. Baby, it's COLD outside!
Thu Oct 29, 2015, 08:01 AM
Oct 2015

Snow forecast north and west of here...AND south! Oh, oh....

It's a Halloween Weekend! Think of the most ghoulish stuff you can find, all in one spot....candy not included!

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