Markets are joining the American mid-Atlantic and East Coast in bracing for Hurricane Florence and the estimated $27 billion in damages it could bring with it....more
9/11/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Alibaba ,
Automotive Industry ,
CBS ,
Corporate Culture ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Crisis ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Leadership ,
Mobile Apps ,
Pinterest ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Tone At The Top ,
Volvo
The Journal is breaking news this morning that American Express has been raising forex prices on customers for years “without notifying customers in a bid to boost revenue and employee commissions”....more
7/30/2018
/ Agricultural Sector ,
American Express ,
Big Data ,
CBS ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Comcast ,
Commodities ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Disney ,
Facebook ,
Farms ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Financial Crisis ,
Forex ,
Fox Broadcasting ,
GDP ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Investment Banks ,
Market Manipulation ,
McDonalds ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Stock Drop Litigation ,
Stock Prices ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Retaliation ,
US Trade Policies
Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson announced on Monday that it will shift some of its motorcycle production overseas “to avoid retaliatory tariffs imposed by the European Union” in response to the White House’s trade moves....more
6/26/2018
/ Anti-Steering Rules ,
Anticompetitive Agreements ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Baker Hughes ,
Barclays ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Burden of Proof ,
China ,
Credit Card Surcharges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
EURIBOR ,
Facebook ,
FHFA ,
Financial Markets ,
General Electric ,
Harley-Davidson ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Instagram ,
Merchant Fees ,
Merchants ,
Ohio v American Express ,
RBS ,
RMBS ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
SAC Capital ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Fraud ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
Social Networks ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Retaliation ,
UK ,
Virtual Currency
After more than 110 years as one of its mainstays, General Electric is out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It will be replaced by drugstore retailer Walgreens Boots Alliance....more
6/20/2018
/ Asset Freeze ,
Automotive Industry ,
Banks ,
Bonds ,
China ,
Debt Instruments ,
Dow Jones ,
Elon Musk ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIC ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Ford Motor ,
General Electric ,
Investment Fraud ,
Living Will ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Retaliation ,
Volkswagen ,
Walgreens ,
Wall Street
JPMorgan has agreed to pay $65 million to US authorities [in the form of the CFTC] to resolve allegations that its traders attempted to manipulate the benchmark rate known as ISDAfix....more
6/19/2018
/ AT&T ,
Audi ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bailout ,
Carbon Emissions ,
CFTC ,
China ,
Comcast ,
E-Commerce ,
Google ,
Greece ,
ISDAfix ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Retail Market ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Tariffs ,
Time Warner ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Xerox ,
ZTE
Commerce Department data released yesterday showed strong across-the-board consumer spending in April, a nominally good sign but one that pushed bond yields higher and sent most equities lower for the day, snapping an 8-day...more
5/16/2018
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Article III ,
Bonds ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Disney ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Fraud ,
Libor ,
RMBS ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Short-Term Investments ,
SoftBank ,
Standing ,
Startups ,
Terms of Service ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Uber ,
Volcker Rule ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wire Fraud
Meet ZTE (well, meet them again. We’ve discussed them before), the massive Chinese electronics maker banned last month by the White House from using US-made components that could well be the “first casualty of the high-tech...more
5/10/2018
/ Argentina ,
Aviation Industry ,
BlackRock ,
Boeing ,
China ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
FinTech ,
Hedge Funds ,
IMF ,
Investment Products ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Nike ,
RBS ,
RMBS ,
Securities Fraud ,
SoftBank ,
Startups ,
Technology Sector ,
Tesla ,
Variable Annuities ,
Wire Fraud ,
ZTE
Some analysis of last week’s jobs report, including thoughts on why a sub-4% unemployment rate poses a problem for a Fed still set on a slow and steady rate hike plan....more
5/7/2018
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Berkshire Hathaway ,
Case Consolidation ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Culture ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Financial Instruments ,
Insider Trading ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Job Creation ,
Libor ,
Mutual Funds ,
Nestle ,
Nike ,
Racial Bias ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Retail Market ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Starbucks ,
SWIFT ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
Unemployment ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo
The DOJ has charged former VW chief exec Martin Winterkorn (and 5 others) with conspiring to defraud the US government in Volkswagen’s “yearslong effort to rig its diesel vehicles to feign compliance with federal emissions...more
5/4/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Energy Sector ,
Hong Kong Stock Exchange ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Job Creation ,
Morgan Stanley ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Securities Fraud ,
Solar Energy ,
Solar Panels ,
Tariffs ,
Technology Sector ,
Unemployment ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Xerox
More than 3 years after admitting to cheating on diesel emissions tests, Volkswagen appears poised to oust CEO Matthias Muller—likely in favor of former BMW exec Herbert Diess....more
4/11/2018
/ Alibaba ,
Capital Requirements ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Facebook ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Mark Zuckerberg ,
Penny Stocks ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sprint ,
Stress Tests ,
Subprime Mortgages ,
T-Mobile ,
Tariffs ,
Token Sales ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
Volkswagen ,
Wells Fargo
There’s falling from grace, and then there’s Elizabeth Holmes. Once compared glowingly to Steve Jobs, Holmes’ well-documented Theranos ills (including exaggerated and faked blood-test results) have landed her with SEC...more
3/15/2018
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Banking Sector ,
Bear Sterns ,
Disney ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Equifax ,
Grocery Stores ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retail Market ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Theranos ,
Trump Administration ,
Unilever ,
Wal-Mart ,
Xerox
The Journal dropped something of a bomb on Friday with news that Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein is heading out the door as soon as the end of the year. If true, Goldman will likely look for his replacement within its...more
3/12/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Officers ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Dow Chemical ,
Dropbox ,
DuPont ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Job Creation ,
Martin Shkreli ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
RMBS ,
Securities Fraud ,
Term Limits ,
Unemployment ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wells Fargo
ECB Chief Mario Draghi’s having none of the US Treasury Secretary’s recent weak-dollar talk, accusing the US official, in not so many words, of “violating agreements among nations against starting currency wars”....more
1/26/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bitcoin ,
Corruption ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Fluctuation ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Crisis ,
Layoffs ,
Municipal Securities Market ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Puerto Rico ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
SoftBank ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Reform ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Uber ,
Virtual Currency ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
Breakingviews on Broadcom’s threat to Qualcomm’s board in the form of a slate of 11 director nominees for the company it has, so far, unsuccessfully attempted to purchase....more
12/5/2017
/ Aetna ,
Apple ,
Back Taxes ,
Bitcoin ,
Broadcom ,
COPPA ,
Cryptocurrency ,
CVS ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Dollar General ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Facebook ,
Hartford Insurance Company ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Life Insurance ,
Mobile Apps ,
Pharmacies ,
Qualcomm ,
Richard Cordray ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Social Networks
Bitcoin surged to over $11,000 yesterday before falling 20% later in the day, prompting this look from the Journal at the widespread lure of Bitcoin mania....more
11/30/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Appointments Clause ,
Bitcoin ,
Chipotle Grill ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Dow Jones ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Mars ,
Nasdaq ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Whistleblowers
As we’ve been expecting, the DOJ announced yesterday that it was suing to block AT&T’s $84.5 billion bid for Time Warner over antitrust concerns....more
11/21/2017
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
AT&T ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bonds ,
Credit Suisse ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Driverless Cars ,
Enron ,
EU ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Merrill Lynch ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Ridesharing ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sharing Economy ,
SIFIs ,
Technology Sector ,
Time Warner ,
Uber ,
UK Brexit ,
Volvo
AT&T’s chief is weighing in the DOJ’s call to sell CNN in order to make its deal with Time Warner go through, and, as Randall sees it, “selling CNN makes no sense”....more
11/10/2017
/ Alibaba ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Apple ,
AT&T ,
Bernie Madoff ,
Cable Television Providers ,
CNN ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
E-Commerce ,
Equifax ,
Financial Markets ,
Hackers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Internet Retailers ,
Investment Firms ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Qualcomm ,
Ridesharing ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sharing Economy ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Stock Prices ,
Telecommunications ,
Time Warner ,
Token Sales ,
Traditional News ,
Uber ,
Victim Compensation Fund
More on the Saudi crackdown initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the weekend, including the government’s move to confiscate and freeze more than $800 billion in assets from the detailed princes and other...more
11/8/2017
/ Activist Investors ,
Capital One ,
China ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Corruption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Government Officials ,
Investment ,
Investment Banks ,
Mobile Apps ,
Money Laundering ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Quarterly Report ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
RMBS ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Securities Fraud ,
Snapchat ,
U.S. Treasury ,
White Collar Crimes
Old-school retailer Lord & Taylor has reached a deal with WeWork to sell its landmark New York flagship store for $850 million. L&T will continue on with a greatly decreased department store footprint in the space, but the...more
10/25/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Bonds ,
Brick-and-Mortar Stores ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Breach ,
Digital Currency ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Forex ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Hackers ,
HSBC ,
Hulu ,
Infrastructure ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Lord & Taylor ,
Market Manipulation ,
MassMutual ,
McDonalds ,
Millennials ,
Power Purchase Agreements ,
Ransomware ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Renewable Energy ,
Retail Market ,
Retailers ,
RMBS ,
Securities Fraud ,
SolarCity ,
Sony ,
Tesla
Lyft, armed with a fresh billion from Google’s venture investment arm (CapitalG), is looking seriously at a 2018 IPO. The CapG money raises Lyft’s valuation from $6.9 billion to more than $10 billion....more
10/20/2017
/ Automobile Recall ,
Automotive Industry ,
Barclays ,
Bitcoin ,
Business Litigation ,
Capital Raising ,
CFTC ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
E-Commerce ,
Fashion Industry ,
Financial Markets ,
Google ,
Hedge Funds ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Insider Information ,
Internet Retailers ,
Japan ,
Lord & Taylor ,
Lyft ,
Manufacturers ,
Nissan ,
Retail Market ,
Retailers ,
Safety Inspections ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sharing Economy ,
Stock Markets ,
Subscription Services ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wal-Mart
Goldman’s deal-making advising is sputtering a bit these days, so Lloyd and the gang are working on generating some of those deals themselves through a new Innovations Lab internal venture....more
10/12/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Barclays ,
Caterpillar ,
Class Action ,
Computer Virus Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Derivatives ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
FIRREA ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Lloyds Banking Group ,
Malware ,
RMBS ,
Securities Fraud ,
Shareholder Litigation
The Peltz/P&G drama continues, with the company suggesting that Trian has lost its bid for a Board seat and the fund arguing that it disagrees with the company’s counting of the ballots....more
10/11/2017
/ AFL-CIO ,
Apple ,
Banking Sector ,
Board of Directors ,
Commercial Loans ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Breach ,
Debt Market ,
Dow Jones ,
Driver's Licenses ,
Equifax ,
Financial Markets ,
Forex ,
GlaxoSmithKline ,
Google ,
Honeywell International ,
HSBC ,
Information Sharing ,
Insider Trading ,
Moody's ,
Navient ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Procter & Gamble ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Spinoffs ,
Stocks
Travis is still kicking around at Uber, and he made that quite clear late last week by using his “outsize voting rights” to name two directors to the 8-member board ahead of a vote to reduce Kalanick’s voting power at the...more
10/3/2017
/ AIG ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Breach ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Digital Currency ,
Equifax ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forex ,
HSBC ,
Insider Trading ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sharing Economy ,
SIFIs ,
Uber
The White House announced its intention yesterday to blocked a China-backed investor from buying American semiconductor maker Lattice over national security concerns. The “rare move” could “signal more aggressive scrutiny of...more
9/15/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Barclays ,
Bitcoin ,
Bonds ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Data Breach ,
Digital Currency ,
Equifax ,
FinTech ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Martin Shkreli ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Securities Fraud
While the Journal considers the ever-growing list of headaches for Khosrowshahi, including a new federal bribery probe over potential Uber FCPA violations....more
8/30/2017
/ Appraisal ,
Aviation Industry ,
Class Action ,
Countrywide ,
Dominos ,
Ford Motor ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Fraud ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mortgages ,
Residential Real Estate Market ,
S&P ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sharing Economy ,
Social Networks ,
Startups ,
Uber ,
Wells Fargo