Alexander Hamilton's B-day bash?

Alexander Hamilton's Bday party: "The Museum of American Finance, in association with the Smithsonian Institution, will commemorate the 250th (or, some scholars say, 252nd) birthday of Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, with a symposium and reception on January 11, 2007. The event will be held in the Museum's new home at 48 Wall Street - appropriately the former

Toll of the stock options scandal heavy in 2006

Trying to catch up on finance news before I leave for Mississippi for another rebuilding effort. Toll of the stock options scandal heavy in 2006: "Eighteen chief executives swept out. More than 100 public companies underfederal investigation and more than $5 billion in profits erased byrestatements. Indictments so far: five former top executives at two companies,Brocade Communications Systems Inc

Is your fund manager deceiving you? Read on | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

Is your fund manager deceiving you? Read on TheNewsTribune.com Tacoma, WA: "The final week of every quarter is known as “window dressing week.” It’s whenportfolio managers sell stocks that have done poorly during the quarter andreplace them with ones that did well. The idea is to make themselves look good: Reports to investors include snapshots of major fund holdings at the end of the quarter.

Firms cook the books to set executive pay

From the St. Petersburg Times Opinion: Firms cook the books to set executive pay: "Grasso was a poster child for the abuse. His $140-million compensation package was rationalized, in part, by comparing his job to those at companies with median revenues 25 times the size of the exchange, assets 125 times and employee bases 30 times the size.Grasso was hardly alone. Executives have learned that the

Grades are in so I can get back blogging

Finals, correcting projects, and all-around chaos have kept me from writing much of late, but I think things are settling down so I will try to catch up.Hope everyone is doing well. Happy Holidays!! jim

Google Gives Employees Another Option

Google Gives Employees Another Option: "Google (GOOG) plans to give employees a novel method of cashing in their options starting next April. The search giant will let employees sell their vested stock options, which give the holder the right to reap the difference between the initial price and the current price, to selected financial institutions in an auction marketplace it's setting up with

Home Depot may see fallout over options backdating | Reuters Recommends | Reuters.com

Home Depot may see fallout over options backdating | Reuters Recommends | Reuters.com: "On Wednesday, Home Depot said a review by outside counsel found that, for certain stock option grants from 1981 through November 2000, the stated grant date was earlier than the actual time the grants were approved. Errors tied to the grants resulted in unrecorded expenses of about $200 million.'The most

Andrew Metrick: Governance Index Data

I was recently asked where a reader could find the corporate governance index, so I figured others might like to know that it is available through Andrew Metrick's website.Andrew Metrick: Governance Index Data: "Governance Index Data by Firm, 1990-2006"For details on the construction of the Governance Index, see Gompers, Paul A., Joy L. Ishii, and Andrew Metrick, 'Corporate Governance and Equity

TownOnline.com - Local News: BC’s Barry Is best prof on campus

TownOnline.com - Local News: BC’s Barry Is best prof on campus: " Corny jokes and tough tests are the hallmark of the B.C. finance professor, voted as one of the nation’s 'favorite professors' in a recent Business Week magazine student poll. Barry was one of only 22 management faculty members in the country to earn the A+ grade from his students. "

Econbrowser: The yield curve and foreign purchases of U.S. debt

Econbrowser: The yield curve and foreign purchases of U.S. debt: "Some new research that suggests that the current negative spread between long-term and short-term yields may be a little less worrisome than earlier studies had led us to conclude, to the extent that the negative spread in part results from an unusually low term premium on U.S. bonds rather than an expectation of future declines in

A look at Amaranth's Brian Hunter

Sounds much like Nick Leeson at Barings back in 1995.Bloomberg.com: Canada: "Hunter, within 17 months, would be responsible for $6.6 billion in losses, detonating the biggest hedge fund implosion ever. Since Amaranth's sudden collapse, investors have questioned the unusual trust Maounis put in his star trader, now 32. They say Maounis gave Hunter too much latitude and that Hunter, trading more

Billy Beane comes to Wall Street

Thanks to the SportsEconomist for pointing this one out!FT.com / Markets / Wealth - Faith in figures proves to be a big hit: "Beane’s great contribution to baseball – he is quick to admit – has been to apply to it techniques that were first honed by investors on Wall Street. Now, to his evident enjoyment, Wall Street is interested by the lessons it can learn from the world of professional sports.

If you want to keep up on Business news, try DealBook

I know I have mentioned DEALBOOK many times before, but it is just so good and recently when I mentioned it in class no one was using it. So I figured I would give it another plug.Mergers, Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds -- DealBook - New York Times: "DealBook is a financial news service produced by The New York Times. It is published daily, Monday-Friday, except on U.S. Market

Buffalo News - Despite convictions, Rigases live in the lap of luxury

Buffalo News - Despite convictions, Rigases live in the lap of luxury: "Nearly two and a half years after being convicted of bank fraud and other corporate crimes, former Buffalo Sabres owner John J. Rigas and his son Timothy remain comfortably at home in Coudersport, Pa., awaiting the results of their appeal.Meanwhile, many other executives who found themselves on the government's rap sheet in

Incentives and the timing of takeovers

I reader brought this cookl article to my attention:From the NY Times:"...8 of the 20 largest deals in the last four years have taken place in November and December, according to Thomson Financial. How to account for this? ....The urge to merge may be influenced by bonuses for all involved in the deal, especially the bankers. Corporate America’s biggest cheerleaders and boosters need to get paid

Cost of Nymex trading seat falls as screen trading surges

Don't think electronic market is changing the market landscape? Think again! case in point, the price of a seat on the NYMEX fell by a staggering 75%!Cost of Nymex trading seat falls as screen trading surges: "THE cost to lease one of the 816 seats on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest energy market, has plunged 75 percent as electronic trading overtakes the traditional

The mergers continue

The mergers continue! The last few months have been very busy for the takeover (err- Market for corporate control market). And today is no different:Bank of New York to Buy Mellon for .5 Billion - Mergers, Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds -- DealBook - New York Times: "Bank of New York plans to acquire Mellon Financial of Pittsburgh in a $16.5 billion stock transaction that would

Accounting Snags Push Dresser to Restate - - CFO.com

Some local ties to this one. Dresser is a major employer in the Olean NY area.Accounting Snags Push Dresser to Restate - - CFO.com: "Dresser Inc. said it will restate its financial statements for 2001 through 2003 based on a host of accounting errors. In May, the industrial engineering company had warned that it would restate its 2004 annual filing, its 2004 and 2005 quarterly financial

Study says index fund investors pay more with broker - Nov. 30, 2006

While not exactly ground breaking (I am sure every finance professor in the country has been saying this for years), it is an interesting article and good for introductory investment classes etc.From CNN: Study says index fund investors pay more with broker - Nov. 30, 2006: "Investors who rely on a broker to recommend an index mutual fund could be paying a whole lot more that they have to,