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Gasparino: The Government May Unwind Its Massive Stake In Citigroup As Early As Springhe U.S. government may sell its massive stake in Citigroup as early as this spring, FOX Business's Charlie Gasparino is reporting. From Charlie's report: Previously, federal officials, including Herbert Allison, who heads the Troubled Asset Relief Program, have said that they plan to unload the government’s 27% stake in Citi over the next year. But FBN has learned that in private meetings with Wall Street investment bankers, the federal government is discussing the possibility of doing it ...(read more)

Posted 09/03/2010 on Business Insider

FTSE Spreads Weaken After UK Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Widensinancial Market Comments from David Jones, Chief Market Strategist, IG Index. In mid-morning trading shares in London have got off to a weaker start. After an initially positive open, shares have turned lower with a worse-than-expected UK trade deficit number weighing on sentiment. Expectations were for the trade gap to have narrowed to £7 billion, so an [...]...(read more)

Posted 09/03/2010 on Clean Financial Blog

Disgruntled Client Opens Gunfire On His Broker And His Son In Dallas shooter in Dallas entered the office of his brokerage firm and opened fire on the father and son team that run the company. On the local news, the police say the shooter, Robert Mustard, was a disgruntled client who was unhappy with the firm's financial advising. (Watch the video below.) He apparently yelled, "You've taken all my money!" before shooting Richard and Chris Smith, a father and son team who run t he brokerage firm, Smith Financial Group. Mustard, a SMU graduate and disbarred l...(read more)

Posted 09/03/2010 on Business Insider

Merrill Lynch: You Should Be Buying Greek Banks (NBG)errill Lynch agrees with us: the Greek debt crisis is over. And that probably means it is time to buy Greek bank stocks. Sure they face serious earnings troubles due to the austerity plans. The party in Greece is over. But Merrill thinks that at current levels Greek banks offer attractive values. Market Watch reports on the investor note Merrill released this morning. The investment bank said it is keeping its overweight position in Greece, with buy ratings on Alpha Bank, Eurobank and National B...(read more)

Posted 09/03/2010 on Business Insider

Jim Rogers: If Europe Let Greece Go Bankrupt, The Euro Would Go Straight Upim Rogers is everywhere today. First, he did that exclusive interview with our pals at Wall Street Cheat Sheet. Now, here he is in another exclusive interview with Bloomberg Television. In this interview his argument is that Europe should let Greece go bankrupt. The idea is that this would prove that Europe is serious about maintaining a disciplined economy, which would help establish the Euro as a stable currency. Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Now That Greece Is Fi...(read more)

Posted 08/03/2010 on Business Insider

FTSE Eases Off 5600 High: Financial Spread Betting Newsinancial Market Comments from Anthony Grech, Market Strategist, IG Index. In mid-morning trading, shares in London are a little softer as the FTSE 100 eases back from 18-month highs. At the start of today the FTSE 100 pushed through the 5600 level but this has proved to be unsustainable so far. Oil services business Petrofac is [...]...(read more)

Posted 08/03/2010 on Clean Financial Blog

Icelanders Reject Debt Deal Over Collapsed Banklmost-complete results show voters in Iceland have resoundingly rejected a $5.3 billion plan to pay back Britain and the Netherands for debts caused by the collapse of an Icelandic Internet bank. Returns released Sunday with more than 98 percent of ballots counted show 93 percent of voters said "no" in Saturday's referendum, and just 1.8 percent voted yes. The rest were blank or spoiled ballots. The result reflects Icelanders' anger at bankers and politicians as the tiny island nation struggles ...(read more)

Posted 07/03/2010 on Business Insider

Trading Volumes Lighten Ahead of US Non-Farms Data: Financial Spread Betting Newsinancial Market Comments from Anthony Grech, Market Strategist, IG Index. In mid-morning trading, UK shares have continued to push higher, with the FTSE nudging back towards its highs for the year near 5600. Financials are leading the way this morning, with Standard Chartered reporting record profits as expected. Unsurprisingly, volumes are a little lighter than normal this [...]...(read more)

Posted 05/03/2010 on Clean Financial Blog

Here's Six Reasons To Short The Asset Managersrom The Street: "The problem is that investors may have no idea these fees are being deducted, what services they are paying for or who they are ultimately compensating.... That's why I believe we need to critically rethink how 12b-1 fees are used and whether they continue to be appropriate." -- SEC Commissioner Mary Schapiro I plan on substantially increasing my asset management shorts -- namely, Franklin Resources (BEN Quote), T. Rowe Price (TROW Quote), AllianceBernstein (AB Quote), Fede...(read more)

Posted 04/03/2010 on Business Insider

Wow! Senator Dodd Pretty Much Just Killed The Volcker Rule And The Independent CFPAust one day after the Obama administration formally spelled out its proposal for the Volcker Rule, Seantor Chris Dodd has basically shot it down. Dodd said that senators are likely to leave it up to regulators to pursue the rule. He also said that it's important to allow the "business community" to make recomendations. In short, the Volcker rule is dead. Again. "I can't write regulations, this is way beyond the competency of Congress," Dodd said on Bloomberg News. Michael O'Brien of The Hill rep...(read more)

Posted 04/03/2010 on Business Insider

Pornstar Monica Mayhem Used To Be A Commodities And Currency TraderPerhaps this is one of those things that everyone knows but us. Apparently the Australian born porn actress called Monica Mayhem was a futures trader in Sydney, and then did forex and commodities in London. We discovered this news this morning when we came across this story in the Brisbane Times about how hard life is for pornographers thanks to great content on the internet. Part way through the article, the Brisbane Times drops this on us: A former futures trader in London, turned stripper, Ms...(read more)

Posted 04/03/2010 on Business Insider

Traders Await BoE and ECB Rates Decisions: Financial Spread Betting Newsinancial Market Comments from Anthony Grech, Market Strategist, IG Index. The FTSE 100 has fallen in early trading as investors await the key Bank of England interest-rate decision at lunchtime. The UK’s blue-chip index lost 0.4% this morning, down to 5514, as traders appeared wary of making any significant moves before the BoE make their announcement at [...]...(read more)

Posted 04/03/2010 on Clean Financial Blog

Super Lawyer Rodge Cohen Hates The Volcker Rulehis afternoon, the "trauma surgeon of Wall Street" and Sullivan & Cromwell Chair H. Rodgin Cohen and Deutsche Vice Chair Malcolm Knight entertained a room full of lawyers at Cardozo Law School. In what moderator Professor Eric Pan called a "Charlie Rose-style" talk — otherwise known as a panel discussion, ahem — the two covered the Volcker rule and financial reform proposals. One takeaway gleaned from the tete-a-tete? Mr. Peepers, er, Cohen doesn't approve of the Volcker Rule. Sa...(read more)

Posted 03/03/2010 on Business Insider

Super Lawyer Rodge Cohen Hates The Volcker Rulehis afternoon, the "trauma surgeon of Wall Street" and Sullivan & Cromwell Chair H. Rodgin Cohen and Deutsche Vice Chair Malcolm Knight entertained a room full of lawyers at Cardozo Law School. In what moderator Professor Eric Pan called a "Charlie Rose-style" talk — otherwise known as a panel discussion, ahem — the two covered the Volcker rule and financial reform proposals. One takeaway gleaned from the tete-a-tete? Mr. Peepers, er, Cohen doesn't approve of the Volcker Rule. Sa...(read more)

Posted 03/03/2010 on Business Insider

15 Managers Whose Funds Will Be Slammed In A Greek Collapsehe Greek Crisis continues as Germany and France have yet to come to a decision on how the bail out their fellow Euro zone member. With default still a very real possibility international funds which have invested in the Greek bond and equity markets may be leaving themselves open to heavy losses. We take a look at those funds most exposed to the Greek crisis if it expands beyond sovereign debt to impact the whole of the Greek economy. 15 fund managers who will be slammed >Join the conversatio...(read more)

Posted 03/03/2010 on Business Insider

FTSE 100 Trades Sideways Following Gains: UK Index Spread Tradinginancial Market Comments from Tim Hughes, Head of Sales Trading, IG Index. The FTSE is currently sitting slightly below its opening level, down around 0.2%. Top of the pile this morning is Standard Chartered after it reported a pre-tax profit of $5.15 billion for 2009. The figure came in a shade better than markets were expecting and [...]...(read more)

Posted 03/03/2010 on Clean Financial Blog

Wachovia Online Banking Site Is Failingachovia's website is refusing to let some customers log in, according to numerous emails we received this morning. The bank, which was acquired by Wells Fargo at the height of the financial crisis, did not immediately return emails seeking comment. The site appears to work correctly until customers attempt to log in. At that point, it refuses to recognize the username and password, a Wachovia customer reports. The problem may be regional or temporary. Our own attempt to log in worked just fine.J...(read more)

Posted 02/03/2010 on Business Insider

Aggreko Contract Helps FTSE Move Higher: Index Spread Trading Newsinancial Market Comments from Anthony Grech, Market Strategist, IG Index. In mid-morning trading, shares in London have made another positive start. In early trading support services business Aggreko is the best blue chip performer, up 2% on the day, following yesterday’s announcement of a £30 million World Cup contract win. This has pushed the share price out to [...]...(read more)

Posted 02/03/2010 on Clean Financial Blog

Sheila Bair: The Consumer Financial Protection Agency Will NOT Hurt Community Bankshe AP reports: The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pitching again for a new agency for consumer financial protection, now a key sticking point in Senate talks in legislation to overhaul the finance system. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said Monday a new agency was needed and she believes it "would help community banks, not hurt them." The banking industry overall opposes creation of a new agency, which would enforce rules and police the fine print of credit cards, mortgages and other ...(read more)

Posted 01/03/2010 on Business Insider

Chilean Earthquake Pushes Copper Prices Higher: Commodities Spread Betting Newsinancial Market Comments from Anthony Grech, Market Strategist, IG Index. In mid-morning trading the FTSE has made a positive start to the week. This morning has seen the FTSE 100 index briefly break through 5400 to hit its best levels since 21 January. The main catalyst today has been the mining sector. In Asian trading, copper prices [...]...(read more)

Posted 01/03/2010 on Clean Financial Blog