Frank Golhen, via Wikimedia CommonsIntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) announced this morning that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire NYSE Euronext Inc. (NYSE: NYX) in a stock and cash transaction valued at $33.12…
If you have been watching the period of low interest rates, ergo a zero-rate policy, for very long there is a good chance that you have felt the squeeze on how to earn interest…
thinkstockWe have warned over and over that the downgrade cycle has not ended for the PIIGS and in Europe. While that is a viewpoint we see as being generally true and with many challenges remaining,…
courtesy of Morgan StanleyThe commonwealth of Massachusetts has fined investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) $5 million for “improper influence” related to its dealing with research analysts prior to the March IPO of Facebook…
ThinkstockJeffrey M. Lacker, President of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, was speaking today to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Economic Outlook Conference. As many of you, Jeff Lacker is the one fed president…
ThinkstockThere continue to be reports that Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS) CEO Brady Dougan will lose his job early next year, and he should. Reuters recently reported: Dougan might have played his last…
ThinkstockEurope finally has a central banking authority, a move that many politicians and economists believe will help pull the region out of its financial crisis. It is hard to argue definitely this will happen.…
ThinkstockLess than five years ago, economic Armageddon appeared at the door. Lehman Brothers failed. Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was…
American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is just about entirely about to be outside of the government’s direct oversight. Uncle Sam’s giant bailout has already turned out to be profitable for taxpayers, but now…
ThinkstockAnother hefty settlement is apparently due to be announced related to charges of money laundering that have hit some of the world’s biggest banks. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that HSBC Holdings plc…
ThinkstockThinkstockBritain’s Standard Chartered plc has agreed to pay $327 million in fines related to charges that the bank hid some $250 billion in transactions for Iranian clients. Such transactions are a violation of U.S.…
ThinkstockThe flow of funds report published today by the Federal Reserve Bank shows that U.S. household debt fell at an annual rate of 2% in the third quarter of 2012, following a second-quarter jump…
ThinkstockThe European Central Bank has kept its interest rates unchanged. Its statement is as follows: At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations…
ThinkstockThe Financial Times reports that former staff members from Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) say the company hid $12 billion in financial losses during the credit crisis to avoid a bailout. The idea that…
An IPO scheduled on Nasdaq today was accidentally killed when an employee of The NASDAQ QMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) cancelled the IPO instead of re-scheduling it for later in the day as had…