Economy
Related: About this forumSTOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 9 October 2014
[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 9 October 2014[font color=black][/font]
SMW for 8 October 2014
AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 8 October 2014
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Dow Jones 16,994.22 +274.83 (1.64%)
S&P 500 1,968.89 +33.79 (1.75%)
Nasdaq 4,468.59 +83.39 (1.90%)
[font color=green]10 Year 2.32% -0.03 (-1.28%)
[font color=black]30 Year 3.06% 0.00 (0.00%)[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)
http://tools.investing.com/market_quotes.php?
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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 - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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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
[/center][font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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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
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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]
Demeter
(85,373 posts)He managed to delay the fascists for more than 4 years. Reagan spent his first term undoing everything Jimmy did, and then the takeover began...
Crewleader
(17,005 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)1. World Bank chief Jim Kim said on Wednesday that global leaders had "failed miserably" to respond to the Ebola outbreak, which has now killed nearly 3,900 people in West Africa. Kim told the Guardian: We should have done so many things. Healthcare systems should have been built. There should have been monitoring when the first cases were reported. There should have been an organized response.
2. Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who flew from Liberia to the US at the end of September, died on Wednesday morning at a Dallas hospital.
3. The presidents of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone the three West African countries most affected by the Ebola virus will meet with leaders of important international organizations on Thursday, The Financial Times said.
4. US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday that preventing the fall of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani to Islamic State militants was not a "strategic US objective," The Independent reports.
5. Fidelity was one of 13 financial institutions attacked by hackers who are believed to have been responsible for the JP Morgan hack, the Financial Times reports.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-october-9-2014-2014-10#ixzz3Fdsq5WVX
Demeter
(85,373 posts)...4 more paper days to go....
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(108,903 posts)Berlin (AFP) - Germany's leading economic institutes on Thursday slashed their forecasts for growth this year and next year and said the government needed to increase spending in order to boost growth.
The German economy, Europe's biggest, would grow by just 1.3 percent in 2014 and 1.2 percent in 2015, the institutes predicting, much less than the 1.9 percent and 2.0 percent they had previously expected.
"Economic growth in Germany has cooled noticeably," the institutes said in their widely watched half-yearly report.
"After gross domestic product contracted in the second quarter and likely stagnated in the third quarter, the economic engine is finding it difficult to get going," the report said.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-german-institutes-slash-growth-forecasts-urge-spending-boost-2014-10#ixzz3FdtTByzJ
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Paris (AFP) - In his pristine dispensary on a quiet corner in Paris, chemist Antoine Louguot never thought he would hang up his white coat in protest and go on strike.
But fury at a government proposal to deregulate pharmacies saw Louguot, 40, join an unusual group, including notaries, doctors and bailiffs, in walking off their lucrative jobs recently over a similar threat to their respective monopolies.
Analysts say that even in a country known for its legendary labour disputes, the action showed an extraordinary level of defiance against a deeply unpopular government, making much-needed economic reforms nearly impossible to implement.
"This strike was a strong action against the government and a sign to the people that it is we who have the power," said Louguot.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-arms-crossed-heels-dug-in-french-not-in-the-mood-for-reforms-2014-10#ixzz3FdxBbNBv
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Here's the scorecard:
France's CAC 40 is up 0.84%
Spain's IBEX is up 0.67%
Italy's FTSE MIB is up 0.49%%
Britain's FTSE 100 is up 0.64%
Germany's DAX is up 1.21%, leading the way again.
Asian markets closed mixed. The Hang Seng bounced back overnight, closing up 1.17%, while the Nikkei closed down at 0.75%.
US futures are mostly flat. S&P futures are up 0.01% and Dow futures are down 0.02%.
From Europe, the Bank of Englands latest decision on monetary policy is out at 7:00 a.m. ET and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi is making a speech at 12.00 p.m. ET. Analysts will be looking for any hint of further easing, as the outlook for the Eurozone seems to get grimmer by the day.
In the US, jobless claims come out 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists estimate weekly claims climbed to 294,000 from 287,000 a week ago.
We'll also get US factory orders. Economists estimate orders fell by 9.5% in August.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/market-update-oct-9-2014-2014-10#ixzz3FdxiOSHx
xchrom
(108,903 posts)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American motorists stand to save billions of dollars a year from higher fuel economy vehicles now on the road, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday.
Fuel economy for new light-duty vehicles in the United States reached an all-time high in the 2013 model year, averaging 24.1 miles per gallon, up 0.5 mpg on the year, the EPA said in an annual report. At the same time, average carbon dioxide emissions fell to a record low.
U.S. fuel economy has increased in eight of the last nine years and is up nearly 5 mpg since 2004, the agency said.
The EPA said recent improvements in part reflected automakers' rapid adoption of more efficient technologies such as gasoline direct injection engines, turbo chargers and advanced transmissions.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-fuel-economy-hits-new-high-in-2013-model-year-epa-2014-10#ixzz3FdyQAQse
xchrom
(108,903 posts)NEW YORK (AP) -- SolarCity will begin offering loans to homeowners for solar systems, a move that industry analysts say could reshape the market for rooftop solar and propel its rapid adoption.
Most current rooftop solar deals involve a lease or an agreement to buy power over a period of time, but the company owns the panels. SolarCity's loan will allow customers to own their systems and still pay less for electricity, a simpler and cheaper prospect.
"The value proposition is becoming clearer and less complicated for consumers," says Patrick Jobin, an analyst at Credit Suisse. "Solar is going mainstream."
Other solar companies have begun to offer loans in recent months, but SolarCity Corp. is the nation's biggest installer, and its loan has a twist that may convince reluctant customers to sign up: The customer pays the loan back based only on the electricity that the panels produce.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former top regulator Timothy Geithner defended terms of the U.S. government's bailout of American International Group Inc., saying Wednesday that the insurance giant's exceptionally risky behavior had caused losses that called for strict treatment.
The terms included a huge government stake in the company and an interest rate called "crazily high" by a government official.
Geithner headed the New York Federal Reserve when it extended an $85 billion rescue loan to AIG in September 2008 as the company veered toward collapse.
In trial testimony, Geithner said he and his colleagues at the Fed and the Treasury Department believed that AIG's dire financial condition was "substantially" the result of its management taking on excessive risk.
AIG, which had operations around the globe, buckled after making huge bets on mortgage securities that soured.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government's budget deficit has fallen to $486 billion, the smallest pool of red ink of President Barack Obama's six-year span in office, a new report said Wednesday.
The Congressional Budget Office's latest estimate shows better results than earlier projections by both CBO and the White House budget office.
It comes as Congress has mostly paused in its wrangling over the deficit in the run-up to the midterm elections next month.
Obama inherited a trillion-dollar-plus deficit after the 2008 financial crisis but that red-ink figure has improved in recent years as the economy has recovered. Last year's deficit registered at $680 billion.
The government registered deficits exceeding $1 trillion during Obama's first term, but the recovering economy has boosted revenues while Republican-imposed curbs on agency operating budgets have combined to shrink the deficit.
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(108,903 posts)WASHINGTON (AP) -- AT&T wireless customers may want to take a closer look at their old phone bills because they may have money coming back to them.
The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that AT&T Mobility LLC, a subsidiary of the telecom giant, has agreed to a hefty $105 million settlement after the government accused the company of unlawfully billing customers for hundreds of millions of dollars in bogus charges - a practice known as cramming. The multi-agency settlement includes $80 million that will be paid to the FTC for consumer refunds.
According to the complaint, the charges appeared on AT&T phone bills but were from third-party companies for services people never asked to receive or were duped into subscribing to - things like horoscope texts, celebrity gossip or flirting tips. The fees were usually around $9.99 a month and were not easy for customers to find on their bills.
The FTC says AT&T kept at least 35 percent of the unauthorized charges it imposed on customers.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)The hackers who raided the data banks of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) used computers now linked to possible attacks on at least 13 more financial companies, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
More than a month after the JPMorgan hack was made public, its now clear that the perpetrators had attempted a broad campaign aimed at a payroll-servicing company, a popular stock brokerage and some of the worlds biggest banks. The depth of the JPMorgan breach and the scope of the intended targets have sent a shudder through Wall Street, even if the attackers had mixed success.
The group set its sights on companies including Citigroup Inc. (C), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC), Regions Financial Corp. (RF) and Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), the payroll firm, according to several people familiar with those companies internal probes who said the signs of intruders were found in the computers or logged by protective technology that effectively stopped the hackers.
U.S. intelligence agencies, attorneys general from at least two states, as well as federal prosecutors including from New York are conducting their own investigations, reflecting the urgent concern around the JPMorgan breach, worries over the precise motive of the attack and its ripples throughout the financial system.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Swedens financial regulator said it may drop a plan to force more homeowners to pay off their mortgages after the countrys biggest banks presented their own proposal to tackle rising indebtedness.
The Swedish Bankers Association plans to require borrowers to make principal payments on all new mortgage debt exceeding 50 percent of property values. If banks present a proposal thats very similar to what we ourselves think is a very good proposal, its absolutely a conceivable alternative, Martin Andersson, head of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Banks can implement such a plan quicker and it would provide the flexibility needed for particularly vulnerable households that for a period of time are unemployed, or sick, or whatever it may be that makes it hard to amortize, Andersson said.
Sweden is trying to stem an increase in private debt, which has soared to record levels, while protecting the most vulnerable households. Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, Riksbank Deputy Governor Cecilia Skingsley and Klas Danielsson, chief executive officer of state-owned bank SBAB, have urged policy makers to exempt some demographic groups from any new debt-repayment requirements.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)For a group of Irish investors, Breifne OBrien was their deal maker, adviser and friend. Then they found out hed robbed them of fortunes in a case that echoes the Bernard Madoff affair across the Atlantic.
OBrien was sentenced to seven years in jail yesterday after pleading guilty in the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin to theft and deception in June. The 53-year-old ran a Ponzi scheme that swindled friends and family connections out of at least 8.5 million euros ($10.8 million) until Irelands Celtic Tiger boom imploded in 2008.
Is seven years justice? David OReilly, a former hedge fund executive who lost 3.6 million euros investing with his old university friend, said by e-mail yesterday after the sentencing. Five, seven or 10 years is not going to bring back any of the monies he stole from us.
The case captures the lingering fallout from the real estate bust that devastated the Irish economy. OBrien persuaded investors, including fund managers and bankers, to put up cash for illusory schemes ranging from Paris to Hamburg. He used their money to pay off other clients and fund his own lifestyle, including buying a $75,000 Audi and real estate in Barbados, prosecutors said.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Bond traders at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Citigroup Inc. (C) face the fastest-shrinking bonus pools on Wall Street this year, while Morgan Stanley investment bankers head for the greatest gains.
JPMorgans fixed-income trading revenue fell 14 percent to $10.6 billion in the first nine months of 2014, the steepest drop among the five largest Wall Street banks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg for the first half and analyst estimates for the third quarter. By contrast, Morgan Stanley probably had the biggest increase in revenue from advising on mergers and underwriting stock and bond deals, the estimates show.
Wall Street thoughts turn to bonuses this month as firms report third-quarter results, giving a sense of how theyve done for most of the year and how much they will allot to bonus pools. While markets lulled by Federal Reserve intervention have crimped trading, investment bankers have fared better amid a surge in mergers and issuance of debt and stock.
This will be a good year for investment bankers, and the largest banks have figured out a way to compensate their best individuals, said Devin Ryan, a New York-based analyst at investment bank JMP Group Inc. In trading, if returns are still challenged, and in 2014 they will be, that will impact where the compensation pools are for those businesses.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)The glory days of Frances welfare model may be behind it.
The countrys Socialist government led by Prime Minister Manuel Valls is chipping away at a system that dispenses 52 billion euros ($66 billion) annually just in family benefits, and is among the most generous in the world. A hemorrhaging public deficit and debt on track to reach about 100 percent of gross domestic product within two years have left the government with little choice but to attack what in France has been a way of life for almost a century.
A politically sensitive issue that few governments have dared to touch, efforts to wean the French off some state benefits may turn into a major test for Valls, both within his party and among voters. The government sought to defend the move, saying its not dismantling the French model, but rather making it more efficient and less wasteful.
Its not the end of a generous system, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said yesterday. Its the end of spending that wasnt useful -- and thats in order to preserve a system that is a costly one.
Valls has mapped out his plans: streamlining unemployment benefits, cutting bonuses for newborns and pegging family allowances to household income -- all of which amount to a de facto re-writing of Frances welfare rules. The social security budget for 2015, cleared by the French cabinet yesterday, slashes family benefits by 700 million euros.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Mario Draghis policy tools are being blunted in Berlin.
The European Central Bank president has stopped short of large-scale sovereign-bond purchases as efforts to mollify Germanys political elite do little to silence criticism of his ever-more expansionary measures. Support for anti-euro groups such as Alternative for Germany has risen and the ECBs latest plan to buy assets sparked an outcry within all major parties.
German public opinion matters an awful lot, said Anatoli Annenkov, senior economist at Societe Generale SA in London. Draghi wants the ECB to be a central bank like any other, one that can go and buy government debt. But hes perfectly aware of Germanys opposition, and the storm now is a clear signal that itll be much more difficult.
Draghi, who will speak at the Brookings Institution in Washington today, may be pressured at this weeks International Monetary Fund meetings in the city to take further measures to revive the 18-nation currency blocs recovery. That wont be easy in the face of a German aversion to quantitative easing that is rooted in the 1920s, when money-printing laid the foundation for a society that still fears rising prices more than deflation.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)German Chancellor Angela Merkel sidestepped French President Francois Hollandes call to use stimulus measures to counter Europes faltering recovery, saying investments need to be carefully considered.
With Germanys economy slowing, France barely growing and Italy in its third recession since 2008, Hollande arrived at a jobs summit in Milan yesterday saying Germany should do more to support demand and that the European Union as a whole should provide 20 billion euros ($25 billion) to support joblessness over six years. Barely four hours later Merkel shied away from any commitment and Hollande fell into line.
We need to invest, yes, but we need to know where to invest, we need to know where the jobs are, Merkel said. We need to know what the professions of the future are. In the whole digital area I see the opportunities for the future. Thats where we should train people.
Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi want the European Union to use flexibility in its budget rules in the face of slowing growth and are pushing for the bloc to spend more creating jobs for the one in five young people who are out of work. Currently 6 billion euros has been set aside for the issue in 2014 and 2015.
Id like to see more by 2020, Hollande said. If Europe cant provide opportunities for the young, then people will turn away from Europe, he said.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said he aims to sever the international lifeline that has kept Greece afloat since 2010 by forgoing disbursements of emergency loans scheduled over the next two years.
We feel fully comfortable that Greece can cover its financing needs from the bond markets in the coming years, Samaras, 63, said in an interview in Milan yesterday after a European Union summit.
An improvement in public finances and low interest rates have emboldened Samaras, who said the Greek parliament will discuss the end of aid from the euro area and International Monetary Fund, which have granted the country 240 billion euros ($306 billion) in bailout loans, in a confidence-vote debate scheduled to run through tomorrow.
Greek bonds are the best-performing securities in the Bloomberg indexes this year, having earned 20 percent through yesterday. The yield on 10-year debt fell as low 5.52 percent on Sept. 8, the lowest since early 2010. Even after a sell off in the past month, that compares to a record high of 44 percent in March 2012, on the eve of the worlds biggest-ever debt restructuring.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Barclays Plc (BARC) agreed to pay $20 million and cooperate with a group of Eurodollar-futures traders suing other banks, to settle litigation over manipulation of the benchmark London interbank offered rate.
The accord, reached Oct. 8, resolves claims by people and firms that traded in Libor-based Eurodollar futures contracts and options on exchanges including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from Jan. 1, 2005, to May 31, 2010. Lawyers for the traders disclosed the agreement yesterday in a letter to U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan, who must approve the settlement for it to take effect.
The plaintiffs lawyers argued in support of the settlement, the first in the U.S. antitrust litigation over Libor-linked investments, that they intend it to act as an ice-breaker encouraging other defendants to settle. As part of the deal, Barclays agreed to help with the traders claims against other banks and potential defendants who havent been named.
Barclays will provide important information, documents and other cooperation to plaintiffs that will enable plaintiffs to name new defendants, make new allegations against existing defendants and otherwise improve plaintiffs claims against the new and existing non-settling defendants, the traders said in their proposed brief.
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(108,903 posts)Lee Tillman, chief executive officer of Marathon Oil Corp., told investors last month that the company was sitting on the equivalent of 4.3 billion barrels in its U.S. shale acreage.
That number was 5.5 times higher than the one Marathon reported to federal regulators.
Such discrepancies are rife in the U.S. shale industry. Drillers use bigger forecasts to sell the hydraulic fracturing boom to investors and to persuade lawmakers to lift the 39-year-old ban on crude exports. Sixty-two of 73 U.S. shale drillers reported one estimate in mandatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission while citing higher potential figures to the public, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) Co.s estimate was 13 times higher. Goodrich Petroleum Corp.s was 19 times. For Rice Energy Inc., it was almost 27-fold.
Theyre running a great risk of litigation when they dont end up producing anything like that, said John Lee, a University of Houston petroleum engineering professor who helped write the SEC rules and has taught reserves evaluation to a generation of engineers. If I were an ambulance-chasing lawyer, Id get into this.
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(108,903 posts)Three former top executives at the Caja Madrid savings bank are being targeted by Spains High Court in an investigation into 15.5 million in company funds that were spent using undeclared credit cards.
One of the ex-bank officials under scrutiny is Rodrigo Rato, a senior Popular Party (PP) official who headed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2004 and 2007. Rato was chairman of Caja Madrid and of Bankia, the lender that was created from the merger of Caja Madrid and six other savings banks.
The other two targets of the investigation are former chairman Miguel Blesa and former general director Ildefonso Sánchez Barcoj.
The scandal of the company credit cards used for personal expenses by 86 executives and board members between 2003 and 2012 has already triggered the dismissal or resignation of a dozen people since the news broke a week ago.
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(108,903 posts)The Spanish Tax Agency is to investigate bailed-out lender Bankia for possible tax crimes worth 15.5 million in connection with undeclared credit cards used by board members and executives between 2003 and 2012.
The 86 card holders who include ex-IMF chief Rodrigo Rato and Gerardo Diaz Ferrán, former chief of Spains largest business association could be affected by this investigation into massive tax fraud even if their personal spending did not surpass the 120,000 threshold that constitutes a tax crime in Spain, sources familiar with the situation said.
Ten people have resigned or been dismissed from their posts since the scandal broke last Wednesday.
The Tax Agency feels there is preliminary evidence that Caja Madrid and later Bankia, the umbrella lender created from the merger of the former with six other regional savings banks, purposely created an opaque system to conceal the existence of the credit card expenses.
Under chairmen Miguel Blesa and later Rodrigo Rato, executives and board members spent thousands of euros in some cases, over 200,000 each on alleged representation costs. Documents in the possession of the High Court, which is already conducting a probe into the case, show that some card recipients used bank funds to purchase clothing, groceries, restaurant meals, jewelry, trips to New York and lottery tickets, among other things.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Tony (last name not included for fear of reprisal on the job) has worked at Bank of America for 11 years as a customer service associate. He takes phone calls from customers whose needs range from a simple change of address to a family crisis that leaves the caller unable to pay their bills, and he tries to help them solve their problems. And Tony and his coworkers are organizing.
Bank of America has had more complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau than any other American financial institution, according to a July report from Mother Jones magazine. And according to Tony, many of those complaints could be fixed with better training for workers, who instead feel squeezed, wanting to provide good service to the customers they talk to daily and on the other hand scapegoated when something goes wrong. Tired of the inadequate training they receive, tired of watching associates get fired for mistakes they didnt know were mistakes, tired of feeling like theyre hurting customers rather than helping them, a group of around 40 workers got together to try to make, in Tonys words, a positive change.
We started the group because we were tired of seeing good people walked out, Tony says. Its tough when youve got to work in an environment where they tap you on the shoulder, say Can you come to a meeting? and as you walk away, another manager walks up to your desk with a box and starts packing your stuff. If you look over your shoulder, you see them packing your stuff as you walk away. And we all sit there in shock saying What did they do?
He continues, When were not trained properly its hurting the customer, its hurting us. Whats sad is that, when were not trained properly our mistakes tend to favor the bank, when were trained properly we dont favor the bank. Some people feel that the bank would rather us not be trained because the money they make off of that is in their favor.
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,890 posts)Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20141907.pdf
== == ==
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending October 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 287,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 287,000 to 288,000. The 4-week moving average was 287,750, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since February 4, 2006 when it was 286,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 294,750 to 295,000.
There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending September 27, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 27 was 2,381,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since May 27, 2006 when it was 2,381,000. The previous week's level was revised up 4,000 from 2,398,000 to 2,402,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,414,250, a decrease of 27,750 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since July 1, 2006 when it was 2,406,250. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 2,441,250 to 2,442,000.
....
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 20 was 2,127,499, a decrease of 44,363 from the previous week. There were 4,010,587 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2013.
Hotler
(11,353 posts)I wonder if this Ebola thing is going to be like 9/11, LIHOP. Somebody called in to Washington Journal this morning and mentioned that Ebola has been around for 40yrs and none of the drug companies have made any cures for it. You know that if Ebola became a pandemic here in the US and took 10-15 million of us out the rich could swoop in and gobble up more land a resources.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)You aren't thinking anything I haven't thought.
How else could the 1% take out the so-called "useless eaters": cutting population, pollution, welfare, everything, and in a totally hands-off, clean hands operation?
Just by not moving fast enough, smart enough....put down the gated communities' walls, and sit it out. Then burn anything that's uninhabited...
I don't think the goal would be a mere 10-15 Million, though. Ten times that, maybe. Otherwise, it's insignificant. I would LOVE to see it backfire, though. Take out the Obscenely Wealthy, the truly Useless Eaters among us....that WOULD be convenient! Unlikely, though.
There was discussion on BBC about how do you handle sick passengers, in a cab? Refuse to pick them up? Quiz them on whether they've been to Western Africa lately? Or seen anyone who has? How would you disinfect a cab, for chrissakes? They aren't even sure how to disinfect an ambulance.
Imagine if it got into a US prison.
Obama's got to be out of his mind if he thinks it cannot happen here...he's making sure that it will by doing nothing.
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)On plane, in taxi, on bus, actually anywhere.
They may not have any symptoms of Ebola, but how many are going to tell they were with someone who did have symptoms?
edit:
Then there are people who exhibit flu-like symptoms and have to go to their low-wage walmart job or clean house for their wealthy client. It's going to be a scary winter.