More Homeowners Consider Strategic Defaults - Developments - WSJ

More Homeowners Consider Strategic Defaults - Developments - WSJ: "More homeowners are willing to walk away from their homes voluntarily, according to new research released by the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. About 31% of foreclosures in March were considered “strategic defaults,” in which homeowners walk away when the value of a mortgage exceeds the house value — even if

Irrational people make irrational market | Marketplace From American Public Media

Irrational people make irrational market | Marketplace From American Public Media"Fox: The book is really more about our collective irrationality, because I think there were arguments for years that obviously lots of individuals behave irrationally, but there was this theory that you bring 'em all together and you throw in a bunch of smart hedge fund managers, and markets come up with pretty,

Obama speech at Cooper Union may cement passage of financial reform

Obama speech at Cooper Union may cement passage of financial reform"Obama will list five main areas of concern include a ban on banks engaging in proprietary trading, a system for winding down large firms whose failure could disrupt markets, transparency for derivatives, strong consumer protections and a provision giving shareholders more say on executive pay."Thanks to Ellen for the link!

Your Guide to the Goldman Sachs Lawsuit - Yahoo! News

Your Guide to the Goldman Sachs Lawsuit - Yahoo! NewsA good recap from US News:"...That's what happened in the Goldman deal, which was created using a package comprised of various credit default swaps. Investors like Paulson were then able to take the short side of the deal by buying insurance on the bonds referenced in the deal. In turn, the long investors were the insurers. They received

Goldman Sachs conference call

Goldman would not intentionally mislead from MSNBC"...Goldman co-general counsel Greg Palm gave the company's most detailed rebuttal to date of the SEC charges. After an opening statement that mirrored the bank's previous comments, Palm took questions for nearly an hour in an exchange dominated by analyst' interest in the fraud charges.Palm was asked why Goldman Sachs did not disclose to

Lehman's Fuld on Repo 105s: Accounting Made Us Do It - Bloomberg

Lehman's Fuld on Repo 105s: Accounting Made Us Do It - Bloomberg"Richard Fuld, the former chief executive officer of defunct Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., said the Wall Street firm reported certain repo transactions as sales because accounting rules required it to do so.“Lehman should not be criticized for complying with the applicable accounting standards,” Fuld said in the prepared text of

YouTube - Crisis explainer (CDOs)

YouTube - Crisis explainerHere is the video we mentioned in class (MBA 610). Definitely watch it!

SEC May Track Large Trades - Financial Planning

IF they make this available it would seem that most competitive advantages would disappear, bit sure would be interesting to see!SEC May Track Large Trades - Financial Planning"The reporting system would work by assigning a unique identification number to large traders that would be available to their broker/dealers, who in turn would report trading information to the SEC upon request as early as

Take the "Dope" Out of Your Finances

Take the "Dope" Out of Your Finances"Neuroscientists like Dr. Brian Knutson, a professor at Stanford University, have found that your dopamine levels become elevated when you anticipate a large, uncertain financial gain. Scientific studies have also shown that the more surprised you are by a financial gain the bigger your dopamine rush. Like a primitive hunter looking for food or a drug addict

Taking exception, this could cause greater conflicts.

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThe tyranny of bond markets | Kevin Gallagher | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:I generally will just not comment on something I disagree with rather than give it more attention, but this one I have to call out. It is from the Guardian.And I have to take exception. But first here is the comment:"The good news is that the Obama administration and Congress is set

Does bank regulation help the rich or the poor more?

Beck, Levine, and Levkov look at bank deregulation and find that it helped the poor more than the rich. Something to consider as new bank regulation is advocated. The Journal of Finance Forthcoming Article Abstract: "We assess the impact of bank deregulation on the distribution of income in the United States. From the 1970s through the 1990s, most states removed restrictions on intrastate

Local Dividend Clienteles

Local Dividend Clienteles: We mention both ownership biases (similar to home country biases) as well as the dividend clientele effect in class, but I never suspected a relation strong enough to tie the two together, until now. In an upcoming Journal of Finance article, Bo Becker, Zoran Ivkovic, and Scott Weisbenner do just that! They find:"Firms headquartered in areas in which seniors

More proof market timing does not work

Strategies - Why Timing Isn’t an Investor Strength - NYTimes.com: "[A] new study that provides yet more evidence that most mutual fund investors would fare better if they didn’t try to time the market. And because so many fund investors try to do so anyway, the study suggests that these fund flows provide a new sentiment indicator for gauging excessive pessimism or optimism.The new study, “

Set My Bonus Free! - Finance Career Management, Finance Career News - fins.com

Set My Bonus Free! - Finance Career Management, Finance Career News - fins.com: "Joel Stern, chief executive of management-consulting firm Stern Stewart & Co. Stern teaches theory and policy of modern finance at Columbia and is the developer of the 'economic value added' measure of performance, which seeks to filter out extraneous variables when evaluating business results.A better solution, he

Major Banks Said to Cover Up Debt Levels - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

Window-dressing accounting style:Major Banks Said to Cover Up Debt Levels - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com: "Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup are the big names among 18 banks revealed by data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to be hiding their risk levels in the past five quarters ....The Federal Reserve’s data shows that, in the middle of

Citi's former leaders Prince, Rubin 'sorry' about crisis - Apr. 8, 2010

Citi's former leaders Prince, Rubin 'sorry' about crisis - Apr. 8, 2010: "'The largest losses at Citi emanated from what were perceived at the time to be extremely safe 'super-senior' tranches of CDOs that carried the lowest possible risk of default,' said Prince.Prince stressed that Citi was not alone in the belief that CDOs were safe, adding that other banks, regulators and rating agencies all

Baseball's Most Valuable Teams - Forbes.com

Baseball's Most Valuable Teams - Forbes.com: ..."profits rose 4% since 2008: New or refurbished stadiums opened in cities like New York and Kansas City, pushing league revenue up 1.4% to $5.9 billion. The other reason: Owners have become more prudent with spending on players."Of course at the Top were the Yankees and the Red Sox. And the Mets fell in value even though they had a have a new

SSRN-Do Antitakeover Provisions Harm Shareholders? by Miroslava Straska, H. Gregory Waller

SSRN-Do Antitakeover Provisions Harm Shareholders? by Miroslava Straska, H. Gregory Waller:Interesting. "We document that firms with characteristics indicating low power to bargain for favorable terms in a takeover, but also indicating high potential agency costs, have more antitakeover provisions in place. We also find that for these firms, Tobin’s Q increases in the number of adopted provisions

Business.view: The celebrity effect | The Economist

Business.view: The celebrity effect | The Economist: "According to “Reaching for the Stars: The Appointment of Celebrities to Corporate Boards”, a new study by four American-based economists, simply announcing that a celebrity is joining a board gives the company’s share price a boost. Disney’s share price jumped by 4.2% on the day Mr Poitier was appointed. But, for the more than 700 celebrity

Naked swaps and other derivatives terms revealed | Reuters

FACTBOX-Naked swaps and other derivatives terms revealed | Reuters: "Here is a glossary of some of the jargon used by lawmakers, lobbyists, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and others as they tackle the derivatives portion of financial reform.Derivatives - contracts that derive their value from commodities, financial instruments, events or conditions."Good article for class!! Hey, we are

Life (and Death) in the Fast Lane - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

Life (and Death) in the Fast Lane - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: "...of course, another dynamic at play here: the thrill of speed and the allure of time savings.None of the papers I’ve seen have calculated the economic benefits we derive from going faster, in large part because they vary so widely. (Benefit of high speed limit to driver on lonely rural highway: potentially large. Benefit to

Does Wall Street Need an Estrogen Injection? - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

Does Wall Street Need an Estrogen Injection? - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com: "There has never been a woman chief executive of a major Wall Street securities firm, and there is unlikely to be one anytime soon. The number of senior women executives in finance has always been small and the financial crisis has pared their ranks further. Among the most prominent casualties was Erin Callan, the

Special Report:Holy bubble! Churches struck down by foreclosures | Reuters

Maybe a few more Our Fathers were needed? "....Lead me not into temptation...."Special Report:Holy bubble! Churches struck down by foreclosures | Reuters: "'At a recent meeting with the 100 top pastors in the country, it was amazing how all of us were facing some sort of challenge with the banks.'Supercheap, few-questions-asked loans were a temptation even churches could not resist, but now they