After much deliberation, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that he, too, will withdraw from the Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia next week. His announcement follows over a week of intrigue...more
10/19/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Blockchain ,
Campbell Soup Company ,
CFTC ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Data Mining ,
EU ,
Felonies ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Futures ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Price-Fixing ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Seafood ,
Sears ,
UK Brexit ,
Volcker Rule
Walmart’s retail efforts to keep pace with Amazon are well documented. Now it appears that the company’s refusing to concede the entertainment space, either, as evidenced by its new partnerships with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and...more
10/12/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Blockchain ,
Earnings Reports ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Housing Market ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rates ,
Journalists ,
Monsanto ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Punitive Damages ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Sears ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wal-Mart
Google has announced plans to shutter Google Plus, its “floundering answer to Facebook,” following the discovery of a security vulnerability that “exposed the private data of up to 500,000 users of the service.” Google...more
10/9/2018
/ 21st Century Fox ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Disney ,
Google ,
Hackers ,
Hedge Funds ,
Identity Theft ,
Insider Trading ,
Netflix ,
Papa John's International ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Surveillance ,
Takeover Bids ,
Tariffs
Blink, and it’s Jobs Report Friday again. Where does the time go? Here’s what we’re watching for in the numbers....more
10/5/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Barnes and Noble ,
Bond Markets ,
Bonuses ,
Campbell Soup Company ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Development ,
Elon Musk ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
General Electric ,
Hedge Funds ,
Italy ,
Job Creation ,
Minimum Wage ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Stock Options ,
Tesla ,
Unemployment ,
Wage and Hour ,
White Collar Crimes
Honda is joining forces with General Motors in an effort to win the race to develop self-driving cars through a $750 million stake in GM’s Cruise Holdings autonomous vehicle unit. The Japanese carmaker plans to contribute a...more
10/4/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Barnes and Noble ,
Canada ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Deutsche Bank ,
eBay ,
EU ,
Federal Student Loans ,
General Motors ,
Honda ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Mexico ,
Navient ,
No-Poaching ,
Offerings ,
Presidential Elections ,
Public Employees ,
Spyware ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
Vulnerability Assessments ,
White Collar Crimes
Amazon announced yesterday that it will immediately raise the minimum wage it pays to all 250,000 of its employees (and the 100k it plans to hire for the holiday season) to at least $15/hour, more than double the current...more
10/3/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Chapter 11 ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Competition ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Data Breach ,
E-Cigarettes ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Global Warming ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Internal Controls ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Minimum Wage ,
Music Streaming ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Redaction ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology Sector ,
Tesla ,
Toys R Us ,
Unemployment ,
Wage and Hour ,
Zurich America Insurance Co.
The results are in, and Comcast has bested Fox in the quest for British satellite broadcaster Sky with a final bid of roughly $39 billion in the unusual 3-round auction overseen by the UK’s Takeover Panel. The result must be...more
9/24/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Capital Raising ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Comcast ,
Crowdfunding ,
Data Breach ,
Energy Sector ,
Equifax ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Gilead Sciences ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Imports ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investment Management ,
Kickbacks ,
Libor ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
OPEC ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Sanofi ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
Tariffs ,
TD Ameritrade ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Retaliation ,
UK ,
US Trade Policies ,
Whistleblowers
“Pot is the new crypto,” declares Bloomberg, and if you’ve seen how the virtual currencies are faring these days, that should be a warning and not a selling point....more
9/20/2018
/ 21st Century Fox ,
Administrative Appointments ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Bank of America ,
Comcast ,
Corruption ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Collection ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
Marijuana ,
Money Laundering ,
Nominations ,
Philanthropy ,
Resignation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wells Fargo ,
White Collar Crimes
Even while we’ve spent that past few weeks looking back at the origins of the 2008 financial crisis a decade later, market watchers are keeping an eye on the roots of the next one that “might already be taking hold.”...more
9/17/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bribery ,
China ,
Citigroup ,
Corporate Governance ,
Debt ,
Financial Crisis ,
FinTech ,
High Frequency Trading ,
Imports ,
Investment Fraud ,
Loans ,
OCC ,
Salesforce ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Special Purpose National Bank Charter ,
Student Loans ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo
Big tech (including Facebook, Google [theoretically], and Twitter) is heading back to the Hill (with @jack pulling double-duty, because that’s how he rolls). Here’s what to expect today based on their prepared testimony....more
9/5/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Argentina ,
Banking Sector ,
Canada ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Fines ,
Corruption ,
Cross-Selling ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Emerging Markets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Markets ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Google ,
Insurance Industry ,
Market Manipulation ,
Money Laundering ,
NAFTA ,
Settlement ,
Spoofing ,
State Farm ,
Stock Prices ,
Trade Relations ,
Twitter ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo ,
White Collar Crimes
Walmart’s broader foray into the grocery biz—letting customers order online and pick up in person and expanding home delivery—is paying dividends for the retailer and helping push its revenue up 3.8% from this period a year...more
8/17/2018
/ Advertising ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Cable Television Providers ,
China ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
DirectTV ,
Elon Musk ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Grocery Stores ,
Investment Fraud ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
MetLife ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Opioid ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
REIT ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Media ,
State Street ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wal-Mart
The latest round of big bank stress tests are in, and the Fed has rejected the capital plan of Deutsche Bank and limited the payouts of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley....more
6/29/2018
/ 21st Century Fox ,
Adidas ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Banks ,
China ,
Comcast ,
Data Breach ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Deloitte ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Disney ,
Equifax ,
Foreign Investment ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Stress Tests
The SEC has an opened an investigation into whether companies are improperly rounding up their earnings per share reporting to the next highest cent—an inquiry reportedly prompted by a noticeable lack of “4s” in the tenths...more
6/25/2018
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
China ,
Earnings Reports ,
EU ,
Financial Reporting ,
Global Economy ,
Imports ,
Leverage Ratio ,
Lucia v SEC ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Recessions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Retaliation ,
Uber ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
Europe’s much-ballyhooed (and feared) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) officially goes into effect today. Here’s a look at the mad dash across all sectors (and outside of the EU) to comply....more
5/25/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
CBS ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Deregulation ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Driverless Cars ,
Economic Growth Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act ,
FDIC ,
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) ,
FHA Loans ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Medicare ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Out-of-Pocket Expenses ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Viacom ,
Volkswagen
The High Court has a daunting lineup of decisions yet to issue this year, but it’s checking one off the list with yesterday’s 5-4 holding upholding the right of companies to use arbitration clauses in employment contracts “to...more
5/22/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Barclays ,
Capital Raising ,
CFTC ,
China ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Comcast ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
EURIBOR ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
General Electric ,
HSBC ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Railroads ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Offer ,
Takeover Bids ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
UK ,
Volcker Rule
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
As we anticipated, the Fed held pat on rates yesterday, acknowledged rising inflation but betrayed little concern about it, and gave no signs of moving away from plans to next raise rates in June....more
5/3/2018
/ AARP ,
Aluminum Sales ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Brazil ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Elon Musk ,
False Advertising ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Ford Motor ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Interest Rates ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Money Services Business ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Nissan ,
Payment Systems ,
Sprint ,
Steel Industry ,
T-Mobile ,
Tariffs ,
Telecommunications ,
Tesla ,
US Trade Policies ,
Volkswagen
After years of flirting, Sprint and T-Mobile have made it official—announcing over the weekend that they have reached a deal to become one company. The deal—if it passes regulatory muster—would create a company with a...more
4/30/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Australia ,
China ,
Financial Institutions ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Microsoft ,
Nike ,
Quarterly Report ,
Sexual Harassment ,
SoftBank ,
Sprint ,
T-Mobile ,
Tariffs ,
Telecommunications ,
Trade Relations ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wal-Mart ,
Wireless Industry ,
Xerox
Another day, another massive Chinese IPO. This time, its ride-hailing company (and former Uber rival) Didi Chuxing, which could go public later this year and has its sights set on a $70-$80 billion valuation....more
4/24/2018
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
China ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
E-Commerce ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rates ,
Internet Retailers ,
Lucia v SEC ,
Mobile Apps ,
Retail Market ,
Ridesharing ,
SCOTUS ,
Takeda Pharmaceuticals ,
Wal-Mart
A day of massive lows (opening bell) and impressive rallies (with the dow up 230 by the end of the day) marked a wild Wednesday on Wall Street....more
4/5/2018
/ Airlines ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Bank of England ,
Cambridge Analytica ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Data Breach ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Facebook ,
FDIC ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Libor ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Presidential Elections ,
RMBS ,
Spotify ,
Trade Relations ,
UK
Embattled credit reporting company Equifax has chosen private equity exec Mark Begor as its new CEO. Begor will replace interim CEO Paulino do Rego Barros, who has been in the role since former CEO Richard Smith resigned...more
3/29/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Apple ,
Automotive Industry ,
BMW ,
Copyright Infringement ,
DaimlerChrysler ,
Equifax ,
iPhone ,
Oracle v Google ,
Renault-Nissan ,
Smartphones ,
Stock Prices ,
Technology Sector ,
Tesla
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
3/26/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bank of America ,
Citigroup ,
Class Certification ,
Data Collection ,
Dropbox ,
E-Commerce ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Forex ,
General Electric ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internet Retailers ,
Libor ,
McDonalds ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Retailers ,
Sales Tax ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
Securities Violations ,
Tariffs ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies
The White House’s protectionist plan to impose roughly $60 billion in annual tariffs on Chinese imports went over like a lead balloon on Wall Street, sparking fears of a trade war, increased volatility, and unintended ripple...more
3/23/2018
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
AT&T ,
Bitcoin ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Culture ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
Forex ,
Grocery Stores ,
HSBC ,
Imports ,
Infrastructure ,
Jeff Bezos ,
Martin Shkreli ,
National Security ,
Nike ,
Private Equity ,
RBS ,
Steel Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
Virtual Currency ,
Whole Foods
A White House announcement about plans for steel and aluminum tariffs left the already-unsettled markets even shakier yesterday....more
3/2/2018
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Deutsche Bank ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Imports ,
Investment Fraud ,
Libor ,
Material Suppliers ,
RBS ,
Steel Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Transportation Industry ,
Trump Administration ,
Uber ,
UK ,
Wealth Management ,
Wells Fargo ,
Whistleblowers ,
Whole Foods
New Fed chair Jay Powell made his first official appearance before Congress in that capacity, relaying to the House Financial Services Committee yesterday that he viewed the country’s economic outlook as improved since...more
2/28/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Banking Sector ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Breweries ,
Comcast ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cross-Selling ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Libor ,
Wells Fargo