A Better 2012 for BigLaw (With Big Asterisks)
The WTO—already on shaky ground with the White House—did little to endear itself on Tuesday with a decision giving the EU “permission to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of American products annually in retaliation for...more
The latest quarterly reporting shows that America’s biggest banks—among them, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo—are taking self-imposed hits now in anticipation of a “wave of loan losses” later. Those three are...more
It’s all coming up Elon these days for Tesla and its stock. “Positive developments” from the electric carmaker’s battery suppliers helped goose shares even higher, ending the day at $780/share—a nearly 20% gain since Friday....more
As expected based on buzz from late last week, longtime CBS chief Les Moonves is out at the network he’s led for more than 20 years. While his exit has been in the works for some time, a report out yesterday detailing new...more
Theranos founder and ex-CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been indicted on federal fraud charges along with former company president Ramesh Balwani. The charges come three months after Holmes settled civil charges with the SEC....more
A look at the some of the losers—cities, mostly—in Amazon’s recent move to start collecting sales taxes in more states. The problem? While Amazon now collects sales taxes in every state that has one, it’s collection deals...more
The UK and EU made a significant breakthrough early this morning to “unlock” Brexit divorce negotiations. The still-rough agreement would see Britain repaying $53 billion and addressed in at least vague terms thorny issues...more
With all of Europe closely eyeing the ECB for hints about its move away from aggressive bond buying, some cities that have benefited disproportionately from the QE are being forced to consider what life on the other side will...more
Judge John Bates of the US District Court for DC has blocked a proposed $37 billion mega-health-care-merger between Aetna and Humana, one of 2 major deals before the courts opposed by the Obama-era DOJ over antitrust...more
European stocks couldn’t escape the pull of tough news in Asia after a disappointing G-20 meeting of finance ministers sent markets there lower today. In other words, US markets may be wishing that we just kept on leaping...more
European Commission Unveils Tax Transparency Package - The European Commission has laid out its plans in a new Tax Transparency Package to clamp down on tax deals made between EU governments and multi-national...more
Fed Announces Dates of Stress Test Releases - On February 12, the Fed announced that results from the latest supervisory stress tests conducted as part of Dodd-Frank will be released on March 5, and the related results...more
CFTC Announces New Approach for Considering Requests for Relief from Registration for Delegating Commodity Pool Operators - On May 12, CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight announced a streamlined...more
On December 4, the European Commission announced that it had fined eight international banks a total of more than 1.7 billion for their participation in illegal cartels in markets for financial derivatives covering the...more
CFTC Proposed Rule on Commodity Pools - On November 5, the CFTC issued a proposed rule that would require that all registered introducing brokers (IBs), commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors...more
As part of the continuing investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the manipulation of LIBOR, the City of London police charged former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes with eight counts of fraud on June 18....more
In This Issue: CFPB Final Rule Amendments to Ability to Repay and QM Rule; Extension of Loan Modification Programs; Freddie Mac $1 Billion Performing Modified Loan Securitization; FinCEN Guidance on Virtual Currency...more
In This Issue: *Financial Industry Developments - SEC Extends Exemptions for Security-Based Swaps - Fed Announces Release Dates for Results of Supervisory Stress Tests and CCAR - Rating Agency Developments...more