Court Upholds Europe’s Plan to
Court Upholds Europe’s Plan to Charge Airlines for Carbon Emissions http://s.nyt.com/u/8xsl
RIP, Christopher Hitchens
There are many tributes today to Christopher Hitchens, and they’re packed with links to his many writings and interviews – one of the hallmarks of the public intellectual in the modern age. Vanity Fair, where Hitchens was a contributing editor, has a short remembrance and a collection of Hitchens’s video appearances. In the video below, […]
The Irony of MF Global: The System Worked
Were it not for the missing customer funds, the collapse of MF Global would be hailed as an example of how well the financial system worked. That’s a very big “if,” of course, and the loss of customer funds is a scandal all its own. But the market worked – and that’s an important lesson. […]
Refco’s ghost haunts MF Global
It’s impossible to read about the demise of MF Global and not think about Refco, the futures brokerage that collapsed in scandal in 2005 and whose remains were later bought by MF Global. Like Marley’s ghost, the weaknesses that played a part in Refco’s downfall returned to haunt MF Global. Refco’s problems came to light […]
In hedge fund manager’s letter, an echo of the 1930s
Prominent hedge-fund manager Leon Cooperman wrote a widely distributed letter to President Obama this week in which he decried the President’s role in framing the national economic debate in “class warfare” terms. Cooperman’s words are remarkably similar to those of another pubic figure who warned a President about the risks stemming from a bruising policy […]
Firing the CEO, Part 5: Glocer out at Thomson Reuters
Tom Glocer today became the latest CEO to be fired, in a year that has seen a score of corporate chiefs get the boot. Glocer, who has led Thomson Reuters since 2001, lost the confidence of the Thomson family, the company’s largest shareholder. Although billed as a retirement, it’s clear that Glocer was forced out […]
On air crashes and financial failures
I happened to be reading Malcom Gladwell’s excellent book, Outliers, just as MF Global was collapsing, and I came across Gladwell’s discussion about another kind of crash – those involving airplanes. Gladwell offers an interesting observation about the causes of air disasters that could apply to the failures at financial firms, like MF Global, or […]
The 4 reasons Jefferies beat the rumors
Sure, the positive comments today from Meredith Whitney helped, but give Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) credit for handling its communications well in a very challenging environment. At one point the stock was down 20 percent as rumors swirled about the firm’s exposure to European sovereign debt and a downgrade by Egan-Jones. By day’s end, however, the […]
The Herculean task of the Olympus committee
It’s hard to square the statement by Olympus that its M&A transactions, which are now the subject of an independent investigation, “were in no way improper.” Presumably, the propriety of the deals is up to the investigation to determine. It’s precisely that sort of statement that makes investors skeptical about the company’s commitment to shedding […]
MF Global’s Fatal Mistake
At this hour, executives and MF Global are huddling with bankers and lawyers, trying to come up with a deal to sell the firm. It must seem like a surreal exercise, since just days earlier the firm held a solid investment-grade credit rating and a market cap of $620 million. Now, as its clients turn […]