New evidence suggests that California’s PG&E repeatedly “delayed a safety overhaul” on a high-voltage transmission line “that is a prime suspect behind the deadliest wildfire in California history.” How repeatedly? Try 5...more
2/28/2019
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
CFTC ,
China ,
COPPA ,
Data Collection ,
Elon Musk ,
Embedded Tweets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Reserve ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Committee ,
GDP ,
Government Bonds ,
Government Shutdown ,
Imports ,
Market Manipulation ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Safety for Children ,
PG&E ,
Price Manipulation ,
Safety Standards ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Stock Prices ,
Swaps ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
Transmission Lines ,
Trump Administration ,
US-Mexico Border Wall ,
Ways and Means Committee ,
Wells Fargo ,
Wildfires
Federal prosecutors are reportedly weighing the allegations that Amazon chief Jeff Bezos has levied against Enquirer-parent American Media Inc., which, if found to have broken any law, “would be in violation of a deal with...more
2/11/2019
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bribery ,
Financial Crisis ,
Hasbro ,
Hedge Funds ,
Jeff Bezos ,
Mattel ,
Presidential Elections ,
Puerto Rico ,
Startups ,
SunTrust ,
Tax Debt ,
Toys R Us ,
Unicorns ,
Wells Fargo
British lawmakers are voting today on Theresa May’s updated Brexit plan, and by all accounts, it’s been a mad dash for the Prime Minister in recent weeks to shore up support for a plan “that could go down to a humiliating...more
1/15/2019
/ Canada ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Hemp ,
Housing Market ,
IRS ,
Malaysia ,
Marijuana ,
Mortgages ,
PG&E ,
Publishers ,
RMBS ,
UK Brexit ,
Utilities Sector ,
Wells Fargo ,
Wildfires
After a brutal Tuesday, the White House tried to take advantage of yesterday’s market day off to run some damage control “and ease concerns that [the] trade truce with China was already floundering.” I suspect we’ll find out...more
12/6/2018
/ AIG ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Canada ,
CBS ,
China ,
Corporate Culture ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Data Collection ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Facebook ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Markets ,
Huawei ,
PayPal ,
RMBS ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Takeovers ,
UK ,
Venture Capital ,
Wells Fargo
A no-deal Brexit wouldn’t merely be a disaster for PM May’s government. It would wreak definite havoc on UK-based companies (and those that do big business there). Here’s what they’re sweating at the moment....more
11/16/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bitcoin ,
Citibank ,
Derivative Suit ,
E-Cigarettes ,
Elon Musk ,
EU ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
HSBC ,
Interest Rates ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SIBOR ,
SpaceX ,
Tesla ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Wells Fargo ,
Withdrawal Agreement
British and EU negotiators have reached a draft Brexit deal that PM May now needs to sell to her “deeply divided” cabinet. Not that her challenges would end there, mind you, as any deal would then face a skeptical Parliament...more
11/14/2018
/ Alphabet Company ,
Driverless Cars ,
E-Cigarettes ,
EU ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Forex ,
HSBC ,
Layoffs ,
Office Space ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Retail Market ,
Sharing Economy ,
SoftBank ,
Starbucks ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Wells Fargo
Saudi Arabia is pushing OPEC and its allies to cut oil production in 2019, and it’s doing its own part by exporting 500,000 fewer barrels a day in December than now—all an attempt to “counter the price rout battering the...more
11/12/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Alibaba ,
Arbitration ,
China ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Exploration and Production Assets ,
Facebook ,
Financial Crisis ,
France ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Italy ,
Netflix ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Retail Market ,
RMBS ,
Sears ,
Securities Violations ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Social Media ,
Tax Evasion ,
Tax Liability ,
UBS ,
Waivers ,
Wells Fargo ,
White Collar Crimes
Wall Street apparently views a divided Congress as a good thing (think less chance of tighter regulation), and it celebrated by pushing the Dow up 500 points and jumping back into tech stocks....more
11/8/2018
/ BlackRock ,
Canada ,
Citibank ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Executives ,
Cybersecurity ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Exxon Mobil ,
FCC ,
Financial Markets ,
General Elections ,
Germany ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Job Creation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Net Neutrality ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Stock Prices ,
Stocks ,
Tax Fraud ,
Technology Sector ,
Tesla ,
Wells Fargo
Some reaction to the HQ2 x2 news, including what a pair of new tech hubs actually means for the cities that have thrown out the red carpet to Amazon and other technology giants....more
11/7/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Benchmarks ,
Business Taxes ,
Cambridge Analytica ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Mining ,
Data Privacy ,
Facebook ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Foreign Trade Regulations ,
General Elections ,
Homeless Issues ,
HSBC ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Libor ,
Nordstrom Inc. ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Personal Data ,
Rabobank ,
Resignation ,
Technology Sector ,
U.S. House ,
UBS ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Wells Fargo
New York has sued Exxon Mobile over its alleged failure to disclose to its shareholder the “expected risk of climate change to its business”—behavior that the state asserts amounts to a “’longstanding fraudulent scheme’ to...more
10/25/2018
/ Apple ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethics Breach ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Relations ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Investment Fraud ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Oil & Gas ,
Payday Loans ,
Quarterly Report ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Prices ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
Trading Plans ,
Trump Administration ,
Wells Fargo ,
WTO
Fair Isaac Corp., creator of the “widely used FICO credit score,” unveiled plans to “roll out a new scoring system in early 2019 that factors in how consumers manage the cash in their checking, savings and money-market...more
10/23/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
Chrysler ,
Credit Scores ,
Cross-Selling ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Drones ,
EURIBOR ,
Fiat ,
Ford Motor ,
Interest Rates ,
Junk Bonds ,
Monsanto ,
Netflix ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
Social Media ,
Toys R Us ,
Uber ,
UK ,
Wells Fargo
More on the rather shocking departure of John Flannery from GE, the Board that didn’t want to give him any more leash for his turnaround plans, and the future of the embattled corporate giant under Larry Culp....more
10/2/2018
/ Banks ,
Canada ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Breach ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exports ,
Facebook ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services and Markets Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
General Electric ,
IMF ,
Imports ,
Insider Trading ,
Instagram ,
Investment Opportunities ,
IRS ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Mexico ,
NAFTA ,
PayPal ,
Resignation ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Media ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tesco ,
Trade Relations ,
UK ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo
In January 2017, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma was proudly promising to create 1 million jobs in America—a heady promise but one not unthinkable given Alibaba’s massive scale. Fast forward 20 months and a growing Sino-American...more
9/21/2018
/ Alibaba ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Bear Sterns ,
Big Data ,
CBS ,
CFTC ,
Competition Authorities ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Data Collection ,
Data-Sharing ,
Email ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Google ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Job Creation ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Market Manipulation ,
Money Laundering ,
NYSE ,
On-Demand Services ,
Payment Processors ,
PayPal ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Resignation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Severance Pay ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Spoofing ,
Uber ,
UK ,
Wells Fargo ,
White Collar Crimes
“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
Less than a day after the Journal reported that CBS and the Redstones are nearing a deal to resolve their many differences, we’ve learned that CBS chief Les Moonves—facing an investigation into alleged sexual harassment...more
9/7/2018
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Apple ,
CBS ,
China ,
Credit Ratings ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Elon Musk ,
Emerging Markets ,
EU ,
Fannie Mae ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Freddie Mac ,
Investors ,
Job Creation ,
Lehman Brothers ,
NY Supreme Court ,
Price Manipulation ,
Quicken Loans ,
RMBS ,
S&P ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Stock Prices ,
Stocks ,
Tesla ,
Unemployment ,
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
Coke is buying British coffee-shop chain Costa for $5.1 billion, as the coffee wars just keep on chugging. Costa has 3800 stores in 32 countries and “a foothold in China,” making Coke an instant player in the field....more
8/31/2018
/ Annuities ,
Argentina ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bias ,
China ,
Coca Cola ,
Emerging Markets ,
EU ,
Google ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Investors ,
MasterCard ,
Merrill Lynch ,
Online Advertisements ,
Private Company Shares ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo ,
White Collar Crimes ,
WTO
Elon Musk had some explaining to do in light of his “funding secured” tweet on August 7 in the context of taking Tesla private, and he’s gone to the corporate blog to do so, arguing that his meetings with representatives of...more
8/14/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Digital Currency ,
Discovery ,
Elon Musk ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ether ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
LIHTC ,
Netflix ,
Real Estate Development ,
RMBS ,
Student Loans ,
Subprime Loans ,
Tesla ,
Turkey ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wells Fargo
On Wednesday, Wells Fargo revealed that it reached a settlement with the DOJ after months of negotiating that will see the bank pay $2.09 billion to resolve allegations over its sales of toxic mortgage-backed securities in...more
8/2/2018
/ CFTC ,
China ,
CIGNA ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Markets ,
FOMC ,
Ford Motor ,
RICO ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Options ,
Stock Prices ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Valeant ,
Wells Fargo
Comcast has withdrawn from its bidding war with Disney over 21st Century Fox’s assets, but it will continue in its pursuit of British satellite TV provider Sky PLC....more
7/20/2018
/ 21st Century Fox ,
Add-ons ,
Administrative Appointments ,
Alcoa ,
China ,
Comcast ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Corporate Culture ,
Disney ,
Hedge Funds ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Investment ,
Papa John's International ,
Qualcomm ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Tariffs ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo
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
6/18/2018
/ Administrative Appointments ,
China ,
Citigroup ,
Comcast ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
Fraud ,
Global Economy ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Libor ,
Municipal Bonds ,
NAFTA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Reserves ,
OPEC ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Theranos ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo
Germany’s diesel emissions scandal bears a lot of resemblances to the Wells Fargo debacle here at home. It just can’t seem to quit itself. This week, we’ve learned that German authorities have opened a criminal inquiry into...more
6/12/2018
/ AT&T ,
Audi ,
Automotive Industry ,
Boston Scientific ,
China ,
Class Members ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
DaimlerChrysler ,
Fraud ,
Germany ,
Homeless Issues ,
Housing Market ,
Low Income Housing ,
National Emissions Standards ,
SCOTUS ,
Stryker ,
Takeover Bids ,
Tariffs ,
Time Warner ,
Tolling ,
Trump Administration ,
Wells Fargo ,
ZTE
We used to call it Nafta. If the White House has its way, we may be talking about M/USTA and C/USTA. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?...more
6/6/2018
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Board of Directors ,
China ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Data Breach ,
Facebook ,
Fox Broadcasting ,
Huawei ,
Investment Fraud ,
NAFTA ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
RMBS ,
Steel Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
UK ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo
We got an official first look at the Fed’s revised Volcker Rule yesterday, and the “sweeping plan to soften” the rule will open “the door for banks to resume some trading activities restricted as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank...more
5/31/2018
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Anbang ,
Class Action ,
Cross-Selling ,
Deregulation ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Disney ,
Dodd-Frank ,
EU ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Insurance Industry ,
Intrusion Software ,
Investment Fraud ,
New Legislation ,
Russia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Offer ,
Steel Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Twentieth Century Fox ,
US Trade Policies ,
Volcker Rule ,
Wells Fargo ,
Whistleblowers