Fed decision week delivered the next 75 bps ratchet up in short-term rates to 3.25% at the top end of the target range, but also an upwards revision in the dot plot to now show a median expectation of a 4.4% fed funds rate by...more
Fiat Chrysler and rival Peugeot have agreed to binding merger terms that, if approved by US and European regulators, would create a “$50 billion auto giant that would rank among the world’s largest car companies by sales”....more
Jobs Report Friday again. Here’s what we’re watching, including the possibility of scary low numbers thanks to the only-recently-resolved GM strike....more
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Rupert Hogg has resigned in order to “take responsibility” a week “after the carrier was rebuked by China for staff involvement in the anti-Beijing protests rocking Hong Kong.” Hogg...more
Good news for the country’s biggest banks, as the Fed confirmed on Friday that all “could weather an extreme market shock—including double-digit unemployment and a 50% U.S. stocks decline—and still have enough capital to...more
Once again, it’s Jobs Report Friday. Here’s some things to keep in mind as you review the numbers...more
In order to comply with European antitrust rulings against it earlier this year, Google announced that for the first time it will begin charging telephone handset manufacturers to install Gmail, Google Maps, and other popular...more
It’s been far from a smooth ride for Uber over the past few weeks. And Friday’s revelation that the ride-sharing company’s been using a tool called “Greyball” to mine and use app data to “deceive the authorities in markets...more
A review of the Fed minutes released yesterday shows the willingness of some Fed Governors to start rate raising again sooner rather than later....more
Activist investor Carl Icahn has taken a sizeable stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb, a move that reportedly caught execs at the drugmaker unawares and sets the stage for a potential sale....more
In the ongoing battle over almost $38 billion in securities at issue in post-crisis-era lawsuits, the big banks are pushing hard for appellate courts to blow up the Firrea extender provision and find that the DOJ waited too...more
Some thoughts—from Chair Yellen, herself—about why, despite pretty strong economic indicators for a pretty long time now, the Fed hasn’t begun to raise rates again....more
Holding companies appear to be an important new feature of the “living will” revisions the big banks have been making in an effort to appease the Fed and FDIC’s efforts to stamp out “too big to fail” entities. The idea is for...more
OPEC has reached a tentative deal among its 14 member nations to “modestly cut” their oil output toward the end of the year in an effort to shore up sagging oil prices–an announcement that immediately sent global oil prices...more
Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf admitted that the illegal sham-account-creation activity at the heart of its recent SEC fine may have begun earlier than first reported....more
In a closely watched and dissected speech yesterday, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard told the crowd gathered at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that she favored “prudence” in raising rates despite recent signs of...more
The bids are all in, and Verizon’s the big winner. Well, both “big” and “winner” are relative, especially with news of a brutal Q2 for Marissa Mayer and her crew, but nevertheless, Yahoo’s core business is now Verizon’s in...more
The DOJ has moved to block the proposed Halliburton/Baker Hughes merger in a Delaware-based federal lawsuit that argues that “combining the two oil field services companies would cut competition in the industry to...more
As expected, the Fed kept interest rates at current levels and “once again pared its plans for raising interest rates, citing the weakness of the global economy as a reason for greater caution about the prospects for domestic...more