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Wall Street & Technology: Blog

« October 2008 | Main | December 2008 »

Scheming to Get Some Bailout Love
November 26, 2008 @ 09:43 AM | By Greg MacSweeney

These two reporters have the right idea about how get a piece of the bailout pie, in this video from WallStrip.com. How can you get some bailout dollars? It’s easy. Become a bank holding company or an automaker. Heck, American Express became a bank holding company seemingly overnight. So can you! Well, maybe not, but given the flip flopping of Hank Paulson, you never know where bailout dollars will be headed next.

Watch CBS Videos Online

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Citi and the truth about toxic assets (audio)
November 25, 2008 @ 10:28 AM | By Melanie Rodier

With the federal government's bailout of Citigroup, the Treasury has gone from wanting to buy toxic assets, to steering away from them, and now back to TARP.

Marketplace editor Kai Ryssdal talks to John Carney of Clusterstock.com about the truth behind the Treasury’s decision to bailout Citigroup.

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OTC v Exchanges: a question of risk and regulations (video)
November 24, 2008 @ 03:04 PM | By Melanie Rodier

Credit default swaps have heightened market anxiety because they are conducted in the over-the-counter market where regulations are few and information about risk is often hidden. Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains how OTC markets work in this video.

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Day Traders React to Market Volatility
November 21, 2008 @ 02:26 PM | By Greg MacSweeney

Who says you can't make money in this market? A number of times over the past few weeks, I've heard people say that the current markets aren't good for investing, but are actually great for trading. In fact, the insane volatility creates a perfect market for active traders. Although many frown on so-called day trading, it is part of the market. In this report from WNYC.org, day traders talk about surviving and even thriving in today's market.

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TGIF: Mortgage Meltdown Music Video; Bailout Beer
November 21, 2008 @ 07:53 AM | By Penny Crosman

Talented preteens put the mortgage crisis to music; Howe Sound Brewery launches Bailout Beer.

Mortgage Meltdown, the Music Video

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Recruiters Look to LinkedIn to Fill Positions in Cap Markets
November 18, 2008 @ 02:45 PM | By Melanie Rodier

Here's a quick note to all you out there (passively or actively) looking for new jobs: Recruiters confirm they are increasingly tapping into social networking sites such as LinkedIn to fill positions in the capital markets.

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The Overlooked Challenge of Data Security in an M&A
November 17, 2008 @ 05:06 PM | By Melanie Rodier

Mergers and acquisitions in the financial industry have come fast and furious over the last couple months, each one raising multiple challenges for the companies involved. A vital, but easily overlooked one, is data security. When companies are in the midst of an M&A, how do they protect their customers’ confidential data?

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Ideas for Getting By on $600,000 Per Year
November 17, 2008 @ 09:54 AM | By Penny Crosman

When we read this morning that Lloyd Blankfein and six other top executives at Goldman Sachs are going to forego their bonuses this year, receiving only their $600,000 salaries, we thought, “How are those poor kids going to make ends meet?”

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Regulators Place Hedge Funds on the Hot Seat
November 14, 2008 @ 08:03 AM | By Greg MacSweeney

Yesterday, Congress questioned heads of some of the worlds largest hedge funds about their role in the global financial meltdown in hearings on Capitol Hill. Not surprisingly, Congressional leaders are looking to regulate the largely unregulated hedge fund market.

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TGIF: Should the Government Stop Dumping Money into A Giant Hole?
November 14, 2008 @ 08:02 AM | By Penny Crosman

The Onion presents a debate on the future of the government's enormous money hole; a trailer for a forthcoming movie about the bailout, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; and a look at the eery similarities between bailout math and Ma and Pa Kettle's financial ideas.

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Gartner Offers 11 Data Center Energy-Saving Tips
November 13, 2008 @ 05:22 PM | By Penny Crosman

Gartner has just released a list of 11 data center best practices that it says could save companies a million kilowatt hours. Some of the ideas, such as plugging holes in the floor, are obvious, but did you know that you can raise the temperature of your data center to 76 degrees without adversely affecting equipment? Or that a 20 percent reduction in fan speed yields electrical savings of approximately 49 percent? You can read the tips here.

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Why did Paulson Shift Bailout Focus? (video)
November 12, 2008 @ 04:06 PM | By Melanie Rodier

The Treasury realized it wasn't going to get bang for its buck, and it was going to be too complicated to go through with the auction procedure, according to experts in this MSNBC video.

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Deadline looms for bailout applications
November 12, 2008 @ 03:10 PM | By Melanie Rodier

The Treasury Department has already approved more than $170 billion in capital injections for banks that applied to sell preferred stock to the government. It now has about $80 billion remaining for additional participants, who must submit their applications by Friday.

Last week, E*Trade announced it had applied for $800 million in TARP money. For more on which companies are applying for bailout money, check out bailoutsleuth.com.

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Nine Percent Unemployment Rate Still On Track for 2009 (Unfortunately)
November 12, 2008 @ 01:31 PM | By Greg MacSweeney

Back on May 29 when University of San Francisco business professor Jon Fisher and I forecast 9 percent unemployment in 2009 based on a correlation between housing starts and job losses, a number of readers, colleagues and even my relatives scoffed at the idea. “Those are European unemployment numbers,” my cousin said. “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?” asked a colleague.

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Michael Lewis Offers A Subprime Post-Mortem
November 12, 2008 @ 01:30 PM | By Penny Crosman

Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker, has written a fascinating profile of Wall Street, drawing on his three years working as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers in the 80s and interviews with research analysts and former Wall Street players, including a few who claim they saw the subprime crisis looming as early as 2004. He doesn't cover every aspect of Wall Street's current crisis (how could he in a nine-page story), but he offers an inside account of how firms allowed mortgage-related stuctured investments to mushroom and bring about devastating losses.

Read Michael Lewis' profile of Wall Street.

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Financial firms change risk management practices (video)
November 11, 2008 @ 09:40 AM | By Melanie Rodier
S. Ramakrishnan, CEO of Reveleus and Mantas, Oracle, talks to WS&T about how risk management practices are already changing in light of the subprime crisis and economic turmoil.

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Private Bank Can Participate in TARP, Kashkari Says
November 11, 2008 @ 09:07 AM | By Greg MacSweeney

TARP Czar Neel Kashkari -- also known as the Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability in the U.S. Treasury -- says that private banks can participate in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the revised loan to AIG sets restrictions on executive pay, golden parachutes and the bonus pool, according to Mary Thompson, CNBC.

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Financial Firms To Meet Treasury to Talk about Troubled Assets (audio)
November 10, 2008 @ 11:43 AM | By Melanie Rodier

Today, there's a big meeting between the Treasury and financial firms to talk about TARP, the government's program to buy troubled assets. The meeting comes as a survey finds that financial players are so uncertain about how TARP would work, they aren't sure they want to participate. Here's more on this story in this Marketplace segment from American Public Media.

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Update on the Financial Crisis from Bird and Fortune
November 07, 2008 @ 07:23 AM | By Penny Crosman

British comedians John Bird and John Fortune resume their discussion of the credit crisis.

Part 1:

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Wall Street Firms To Cut Additional 15% of Workforce
November 06, 2008 @ 09:20 AM | By Greg MacSweeney

In a year that has already seen thousands of layoffs on Wall Street, word is that most large firms are planning another round of cuts by year end — some headcount reductions as high as 15 percent of the workforce. The pink slips at Goldman Sachs, amounting to 10-15 percent of the workforce, could be coming as early as this week. Layoffs inside of Merrill Lynch could amount to 10,000. At Morgan Stanley, most of the cuts will likely come from inside the investment bank. Even the relatively strong JPMorgan is considering another round of substantial cuts, reports CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino in the following video clip.

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Rubin, Volcker, Summers and Geithner on Short List for Obama’s Treasury Secretary (CNBC)
November 05, 2008 @ 05:07 PM | By Greg MacSweeney

One of the major issues President-elect’s Barack Obama’s new Treasury Secretary will need to deal with is managing the TARP, in addition to a large domestic spending agenda that will be needed to support new programs. CNBC speculates that Robert Rubin, Paul Volcker, Lawrence Summers, and Timothy Geithner are on Obama’s short list for Treasury Secretary

Related Audio Blog (NPR)

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Bernanke Talks Tough About Role of "Financial Engineering" in the Subprime Crisis
November 05, 2008 @ 02:11 PM | By Penny Crosman

In a speech at the University of California at Berkeley on Friday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke critiqued government-sponsored and private mortgage securitization and suggested possible solutions, including the covered bonds used by Europe’s banks.

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Who Will President-Elect Obama Choose as Treasury Secretary?
November 05, 2008 @ 09:51 AM | By Greg MacSweeney

Many expect Barack Obama’s incoming administration will act quickly to name the next Treasury Secretary, who will be given the enormous task of helping to get the economy moving again. On the short list: Paul Volcker, Lawrence Summers, and Timothy Geithner, to name a few. Hear more in this Marketplace segment from American Public Media.

Unknown Credit Default Data Could Inspire Regulators (audio)
November 04, 2008 @ 08:16 AM | By Greg MacSweeney

Regulators might be shocked into action when it comes to credit default swaps (CDS). The value of all the credit default swaps could be $40 trillion or $50 trillion -- nobody knows for sure, reports Bob Moon for American Public Media’s Marketplace radio program.

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Social Networking Sites Boom as Financial Crisis Worsens
November 03, 2008 @ 12:38 PM | By Melanie Rodier

While the financial crisis continues to unfold, professional social networking sites are booming.

Financial executives potentially on the lookout for new jobs are rapidly joining sites such as Linkedin, and MeetheBoss, a site for financial services executives that was created in September.

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