Wall Streeters have a penchant for pulling pranks on each other and they're usually pretty funny. But this Velociraptor chase from a game show in a Japanese office takes the prize for the best prank ever. [via i09.com]
Watch below:
↧
This Velociraptor Chasing A Japanese Office Worker Is The Most Terrifying Office Prank Ever
↧
Financial Analyst Writes Advice Column For Young Women Who Date 'Sugar Daddies'
A 45-year-old senior financial analyst/"sugar daddy" just started writing a dating advice column for Earn The Necklace— a website for women who date much older men, the New York Post reported.
It's unclear who the mystery financial analyst is and where he works. He writes under the pseudonym "Trent" for Earn the Necklace.
We checked a couple of his columns.
Here what he has to say to a sugar baby who is concerned she's "not enough" for her sugar daddy after finding his secret stash of porn:
"Was your sex life suffering before you found the videos, or now that you’ve found them, are you beginning to question things? On one hand, we’re predictable and some old habits never die; even if we’re getting it from you three times a day, we’ll still want to pleasure ourselves. We’re also visual creatures. If he’s significantly older, maybe he can’t get it up with just his imagination. If it bothers you that much, then talk to him about it. Ask him if he’d rather look at naked pictures or videos of you instead. At the same time, if it makes you feel uncomfortable that he’s fantasizing about having sex with porn stars, discuss it. If you feel like you’re being disrespected or not desired enough, you need to address that. No matter how great it is to have a self-induced, toe curling orgasm, it never outweighs making our sugar baby feel bad about herself."
And here's how he thinks a sugar baby can go about introducing role playing in the bedroom:
Your sugar daddy isn’t into role playing? Interesting. On one hand, if he’s not into it, then he’s not into it. But on the other hand, most men will come around on some level. If you sense that he’s apprehensive, then start slowly and think long-term. When you’re having dinner, ask him if he has any fantasies, like sleeping with Princess Lea (he probably has; what guy hasn’t?) You can try something non-aggressive, like dressing up as the strict librarian. Or, plan a themed date night at home. Dress up anyway you like, and have at it.
You can read the columns at Earn The Necklace.
↧
↧
Former Wall Street Woman Says She Faced Improper Advances From Married Traders And Lots Of Boob Jokes
Question-and-answer site Quora tweeted a link this morning to a thread called "What is it like being a woman on Wall Street?"
An anonymous Ivy League-educated woman, who says she worked on Wall Street for 10 years, has a fascinating response full of anecdotes from her time in finance. She left Wall Street more than five years ago and notes that things may have changed.
In her response, she describes challenges she personally faced, like when men in the office would address internal mail with her bra size next to her name, or when married traders would get smashed and call her up late at night and hit on her.
The anonymous former finance worker also says that it was difficult to report bad behavior in the industry because she was afraid she might lose her job. She writes about how one of her married superiors "got too physical" over cocktails and she slapped him in front of another male colleague. She said she was the one who had to apologize for the incident.
Her response doesn't paint a totally grim picture for women working in Wall Street.
She says that she really liked working in finance and that she learned extremely valuable skills. She also says that there were several instances when male co-workers would stand up for her.
Here's her full response from Quora:
I liked working on Wall Street, in an industry overwhelmingly dominated by men, and very smart people who are amply rewarded. It's fast-paced, exciting, brash, and you have to be on top of your game, all the time.
But there are many challenges. I worked on Wall Street for over a decade; and following is a very small sample of what I experienced:
- I would get anonymous notes. We worked in a high-rise with many floors, so originally I thought there was an error in finding my correct mail zone. (good-natured speculation, I'm sure -- someone would write 34D? 36C? 38C! etc. on my mail, on the address label next to my name - got very annoying after about the 4th time, because we were on the 26th floor; there were only 30 in the building.). I finally spoke to the folks in HR about it; it stopped.
- I was regularly sexually "harassed" and felt up every time there was an office party. Harassed is probably going a little too far; a little teasing, maybe, more sexual innuendo, like that. Maybe "felt up" is a stretch, too. In case you were wondering, it's called "harmless flirting" and "being someone's good friend" when hands grope and go where they shouldn't, like on your ass, your thigh or brushing up against your chest, or when somebody has their arm around you, and then it slips. I see it happen all the time among my male co-workers - oh, wait, maybe I don't. This isn't Europe, they're terrified to touch each other, beyond a handshake, or a pat on the shoulder when they've lost their dog, or their mother.
- I got drunk phone calls at 3 am from time to time from traders wanting to "stop by" that I'd have to shut down; and then got to listen the next day as they talked to their wives about their $3M Darien remodel and then, on the next call, set up "dates" with Paris hookers -- good times. Never did get the chance to party with some of those guys.
There are many more stories like this; none particularly awful, I guess. Heck, that's why I got an Ivy League education and graduate degree, so I could learn how to brush aside that kind of nonsense. Right?
These were a few of the lessons learned:
- Either going or not going to the strip club with the guys is a problem.
- Always apologize first. Men have egos, especially when it relates to women and sexual advances. One evening out, one senior married colleague's behavior got so bad and was heading so far out of line, I slapped him, because I didn't know what else to do, in front of one of one of his subordinates. He got too physical with me, and it wouldn't stop, no matter what I said. The next day, I apologized, laughingly, 'cause, you know, it was awkward and I guess I drank too much. And I ran the risk of losing my job if I didn't.
- If you complain about this kind of behavior, then neither men nor women will ever talk to you again. The men won't because they're afraid of becoming the next target; the women won't because they're just afraid. As one woman put it "I can't tell anyone! I'll lose my job". Simple, really, and true. And you can't sue, because if you do, your career in the industry is pretty much over, unless you have family in the business to protect you, or clients who will stay with you, no matter what. And then, people think you must be sleeping with the clients. You develop a "reputation". For some women, that's OK. For me, it just wasn't.
- Whatever the situation in your company in the United States, if you travel outside of Europe and Australia, especially, for business, you will encounter additional, higher levels of discrimination, sexual innuendo, and harassment. Or you will be ignored. It's good to travel with men who can help -- unless, of course you have your own contacts, preferable family or school relationships. I recall sitting in a very, very crowded first class lounge in the Sao Paolo airport, all business travelers. There were two other women there, traveling for a mobile carrier, out of easily over a hundred men in suits and ties, waiting for their planes. It shouldn't matter; but it does. It's difficult.
There are some clubs I don't want to be a part of, even if they're elite and powerful. I think similar rationales are part of the reason why there aren't more women, still, in the most senior ranks of Wall Street.
There were also times when the men I worked with stood up for me, set me up for promotions and supported me professionally and personally, in ways that I can't begin to repay them for.
One time, at a dinner at a very nice NYC restaurant, while we were waiting for a table and I was at the bar, some guy wandered over and started trying to hit on me. I could see my boss's boss watching from a table in the cocktail area. I couldn't shake the guy. So, finally, my boss's boss walked over, and said "hey buddy, can't you see she doesn't want to talk to you?" The guy looked at him and said "what's it to you? you like her boyfriend or something?" And my boss's boss just called the bartender over and said "this man is leaving. pick up the tab and get out of here". And the guy pulled out his black card, paid the tab and left. My boss's boss was very good at keeping expenses down. Some of those guys were like my brothers; and I respect and adore them and their families, and stay in touch.
Occasionally, even positive feedback could be awkward; there's a slightly bitter flavor to the promotion or the bonus that comes with -" you're good at this, better than john and bill and bob. Our performance/numbers shows it. Plus, you're nicer to look at." All you can do is smile, and say "thank you." Because, you know - that matters.
Things may have changed, or maybe it's just become subtler and more insidious. I left over 5 years ago, because my husband got a job offer in another place. He finally got to a point in his career where he was making close to as much money as I was; even though the opportunity for increased financial success in his career was much less than my potential earnings at the time, we wanted to have a family, and I wanted to have a family life. That wasn't possible so long as both of us were working in highly competitive, stressful jobs. For me, living a full life isn't about the money, or the adrenaline.
The skills I learned while working on Wall Street were invaluable, and to some extent, transferable. Selling yourself, getting people to trust you, and making the client feel good about themselves has a lot to do with success in business. I learned how to do that with my co-workers and supervisors as well as with clients, on Wall Street.
The real secret of success on Wall Street, as almost anything, is to persevere and consistently add value; and find a place and space that welcomes you, recognizes your contribution, and treats you with the respect that you deserve. There are some incredible female role models on Wall Street; they are extraordinarily talented, hard-working, and lucky, and often have made significant personal sacrifices. There are companies that have a culture that supports and foster talent, no matter gender. There are many sacrifices you make throughout your career, no matter what your gender is. What's acceptable and fun at one point in your life might not be so positive, later on; and vice-versa. Things change. And maybe, patterns of sexual harassment and discrimination on Wall Street have changed for the better, too; but maybe they've just gone further underground.
↧
2 Wall Streeters Bid Up A 1-Foot-Wide Piece Of Hamptons Land Being Sold For $10 To $120,000
All Suffolk County wanted to do was sell a little strip of beach front property 1-foot-wide by 1,885-feet-long. The county set the bidding at $10, according to Newsday, and contacted the adjacent owners.
Simple, right?
Wrong.
Enter two bankers that would stop at nothing to get that strip — Kyle N. Cruz, a managing director at Centerbridge Partners LP and Marc Helie of Chevalier Investments. Both men showed up armed with $1,500 and the title to their properties on May 30.
And then it was war, according to the Suffolk County property manager (from Newsday):
"We've had one or two pieces start off at $400 and maybe go to $10,000, but never like this," Wayne R. Thompson said. "But you know what water's worth . . . You can say, 'Oh, yes, I have a right of way to the water.' "
Yes, Suffolk County is home to the Hamptons, and this specific piece of land sits in Napeague, a village of super-expensive homes just west of Montauk (where all the hip kids are going these days), and gives the owner beach access.
So maybe it's worth what was ultimately a bidding war that went back and forth 34 times and ended with a $120,000 price tag (Helie won, for the record).
Thompson told Newsday that he "gathered" that one man "really did not want the other one walking over his property to the water."
Cruz will now have to walk over Helie's property to get to the ocean a few hundred feet away.
Competitive much?
↧
18 Famous People Who Have A Thing For Wall Streeters
Aside from being the Masters of the Universe making the big bucks, some Wall Streeters have managed to become romantically involved with some really famous people.
We've compiled a list supermodels, movie stars and socialites who have or have had a thing for Wall Streeters.
Some of the relationships have flourished, while others have ended.
Singer-songwriter Billy Joel and former Morgan Stanley employee Alexis Roderick
Status: Dating for over three years.
Her: Roderick, 32, is a former Morgan Stanley risk officer.
Him: Joel, 64, is a famous singer/songwriter/piano player.
Fun Fact: They are 32 years apart in age.
Miss America Mallory Hagan and JPMorgan banker Charmel Maynard
Status: Dating
Her: She's Miss America 2013.
Him: He's an associate at JPMorgan Chase in New York. He was born in Trinidad and grew up in Atlanta. He graduated from Amherst.
Fun Fact: They met in a Meatpacking bar in 2010. They've been dating ever since. Maynard cheered on Hagan at the Miss America pageant back in January.
Actress Mary-Kate Olsen and private equity managing director Olivier Sarkozy
Status: Dating for over a year.
Her: The 27-year-old Olsen twin is known for her role as Michelle Tanner on Full House. She's also made several films in her career with her fraternal twin sister, Ashley. The Olsen twins also have a fashion empire worth about $1 billion.
Him: Sarkozy, 44, is a managing director and head of the global financial services group at private equity firm the Carlyle Group. Prior to joining Carlyle, Sarkozy was the global co-head of the financial institutions group at UBS, and also worked at Credit Suisse for 11 years.
Fun Fact: Olsen's boyfriend is also the younger half-brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
↧
↧
A Goldman Exec Bought The Only Freestanding Mansion In Manhattan For $14 Million
A Goldman Sachs executive has bought the only freestanding mansion in Manhattan, The Real Deal's Katherine Clarke reports citing city records.
Mark Schwartz, a vice chairman of Goldman and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific, purchased the Schinasi House at 351 Riverside Drive in the Upper West Side for $14 million, the report said.
It's definitely a dream home and we're going to take a tour.
First, this is Mark Schwartz, the new owner.
The Schinasi mansion was built in 1909 by William Tuthill, the same architect who designed Carnegie Hall. The home is four stories tall and it has an English basement.
The exterior of the house is white marble. The roof is comprised of green tiles.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
↧
Neil Barofsky Is Joining A Huge White Collar Law Firm Where He'll Represent Hedge Funds and Private Equity Firms
Former federal prosecutor Neil Barofsky, who is also the former Special Inspector General for TARP and the author of "Bailout," is joining a big white collar law firm, Jenner & Block.
In his new job, Barofsky will be a partner in the New York office and he'll be representing financial firms in the hedge fund and private equity space.
"Neil is a great fit for Jenner & Block. His background as a senior federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the TARP’s inspector general has given him an unparalleled grasp of the most complex financial transactions of the last decade. He will undoubtedly enhance the firm’s capabilities in securities and other litigation matters on behalf of hedge funds, private equity firms and other entities litigating over complex financial instruments,” Susan Levy, managing partner of Jenner & Block, said in a statement.
"I look forward to using my experiences as a prosecutor, as a financial regulator and as a trial lawyer to assist and defend clients who find themselves the subject of criminal and regulatory enforcement matters and also to representing clients in civil litigation, including those seeking redress for harm suffered in complex financial transactions," Barofsky said in a statement.
Jenner & Block's chairman Anton Valukas served as the examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The law firm produced a huge cache of Lehman bankruptcy documents that included a bunch of embarrassing emails.
Here's the full press release on Barofsky's hire:
Jenner & Block LLP is pleased to announce that Neil Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor who served as the chief watchdog of the historic $700 billion federal bailout adopted in response to the 2008 financial crisis, has joined its New York office as a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department. He will be a member of the firm's practice groups in White Collar Defense and Investigations; Securities Litigation and Enforcement; and Government Controversies and Public Policy Litigation.
Mr. Barofsky is an acclaimed trial lawyer who burnished a national reputation as a staunch advocate for accountability in our financial system. Confirmed by the Senate as the first Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in late 2008, he oversaw the creation and expansion of a law enforcement agency within the U.S. Treasury Department, which was charged by Congress to conduct criminal and civil investigations of fraud and abuse linked to the bailouts. Since leaving that post in 2011, Mr. Barofsky has been a noted commentator on a variety of issues at the intersection of economics, law, business and politics for Bloomberg TV and other media outlets. He documented his experiences in overseeing the TARP Program in his best-selling book, Bailout.
Mr. Barofsky spent more than eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), where he investigated and tried some of the most significant cases in the United States, including the successful investigation, trial and conviction of former Refco, Inc. officers of a $2.4 billion securities and accounting fraud, for which he received the Department of Justice’s highest award for excellence in legal performance. He rose to be a Senior Trial Counsel and headed the Mortgage Fraud Group, a prosecutorial team that investigated and prosecuted all aspects of mortgage fraud, including those concerning the most complex financial instruments at the heart of the financial crisis.
“Neil is a great fit for Jenner & Block. His background as a senior federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the TARP’s inspector general has given him an unparalleled grasp of the most complex financial transactions of the last decade. He will undoubtedly enhance the firm’s capabilities in securities and other litigation matters on behalf of hedge funds, private equity firms and other entities litigating over complex financial instruments,” said Susan C. Levy, Managing Partner of Jenner & Block.
Jenner & Block’s Chairman and the Examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, Anton R. Valukas, said, “Neil’s experience is simply unmatched. He offers our clients the judgment and credibility they require when dealing with the Justice Department, the Treasury Department, Congress, the SEC and other financial regulators. I’m delighted to welcome Neil to the firm.”
As the first Special Inspector General for TARP, Mr. Barofsky established an investigative office of more than 130 employees. Under his leadership, the office’s investigations led to the recovery or avoided losses of more than $700 million, and to date have led to more than 100 fraud convictions. He implemented the office’s audit division, whose acclaimed reports helped protect vital taxpayer interests. He has testified before Congress more than two dozen times.
“Jenner & Block is an ideal platform where my practice can flourish because of its renowned litigation reputation, the iconic role it has played in issues surrounding the financial crisis and the firm’s regular role in matters involving complex financial instruments. Most importantly, I wanted to work at a firm that shares my commitment to zealous advocacy of its clients and, as demonstrated in the Lehman examinership, a willingness to embrace the most challenging matters against the most difficult adversaries in the most demanding circumstances. I look forward to using my experiences as a prosecutor, as a financial regulator and as a trial lawyer to assist and defend clients who find themselves the subject of criminal and regulatory enforcement matters and also to representing clients in civil litigation, including those seeking redress for harm suffered in complex financial transactions,” said Mr. Barofsky, currently a Senior Fellow for the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at the New York University Law School. “I am also looking forward to following in the firm’s tradition of service through examinerships and monitorships, as well as its demonstrated commitment to pro bono and community service. Jenner & Block is a perfect fit for me.”
Peter B. Pope, co-chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice, said, “With a focus on white collar defense and civil litigation – particularly involving complex financial instruments – Neil is a strong addition to our unique offering of a top-flight white collar practice with a compelling track record in complex civil litigation involving financial matters.”
Mr. Barofsky is a 1995 magna cum laude graduate of the New York University School of Law and a 1992 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he received undergraduate degrees from the Wharton School of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences.
In the firm’s New York Office, Mr. Barofsky will be joining leading white collar defense practitioners Peter Pope, former head of the New York State Attorney General’s Criminal Division; Katya Jestin, former Assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn; and Tony Barkow, former Assistant United States Attorney in Manhattan and Washington, D.C. In the arena of civil litigation involving complex financial instruments, he joins Richard Ziegler, the Office’s Managing Partner, and Stephen Ascher, a co-chair of the firm’s Securities Litigation Practice. In May 2013, Messrs. Ziegler and Ascher won a civil trial against Bank of New York Mellon Trust, permitting firm client Chesapeake Energy Corp. to redeem $1.3 billion in high-yield bonds six years early, over the indenture trustee’s objection, and last month resolved four years of litigation for firm client Brookfield Asset Management against AIG Financial Products over whether AIG’s 2008 financial crisis terminated a $1.5 billion interest rate swap.
↧
Goldman Is Kicking Past And Current Employees Who Have Less Than $1 Million Out Of Its Private Bank
Daily Intelligencer's Kevin Roose reports that Goldman Sachs is kicking all past and current employees who have less than $1 million in assets out of its private bank.
According to Roose, Goldmanites were allowed to keep their money in the bank's asset management division no matter how wealthy they were.
That perk is going away for all of those who have less than seven-figures in their account.
According to several ex-employees, Goldman began the transition earlier this year, by requiring employees with less than $1 million in assets at the firm to pay a $3,000 annual fee to keep their Goldman accounts open. Later, it sent a letter informing account holders under the limit that they would be forced to move their accounts by the end of 2014. Now callers to the firm's 800 number for employee financial services are greeted with a message: "Please press 1 if your call is regarding the Fidelity migration."
↧
Legendary Wall Street Forecaster Joe Granville Has Died
Joe Granville, the technical analyst famous for his 1981 "sell everything" call that caused a 2.4% one-day drop in the Dow, has died at the age of 90.
Granville had published the "Granville Market Letter" since 1963, successfully picking market drops in 1977 and 1978, according to a Bloomberg obituary.
Sprinkled with a few bad calls, the bearish Granville nailed some of the biggest market moves in recent memory. From a 2012 Bloomberg article:
He correctly forecast the bear market of 1977-78 and the burst of the Internet bubble that began in 2000. In March 2008, Granville said the Dow would end the year near 9,000, more than 27 percent below its level of 12,392.66 at the time. The gauge finished the year at 8,776.39.
Granville, whose father lost his entire fortune in the 1929 crash, developed a stock market momentum indicator called on-balance volume (OBV).
He later wrote that the idea occurred to him in 1961 while on the toilet, according to Bloomberg.
↧
↧
REPORT: Bank Of America Is Expected To Cut 2,100 Jobs
Bank of America is expected to cut 2,100 jobs because demand for mortgage loans has declined as interest rates have climbed, Bloomberg News Hugh Son reports citing two unnamed sources familiar.
As part of this round of cuts, the bank is expected to close down 16 mortgage offices, the report said.
Bank of America isn't the first to shed mortgage jobs in recent weeks.
Wells Fargo also said it would cut 2,300 jobs.
↧
How One Private Equity CEO Got His Start On Wall Street By Running A Department At Age 23
There are a few moments in everyone's career where they can either seize an opportunity or let it pass them by.
In a recent interview produced by finance career site, OneWire, Ted Virtue, Founder & CEO of the private equity firm, MidOcean Partners, recounts his memorable sink or swim moment at the very beginning of his career.
Here's how it all started:
“I started at [Drexel Burnham Lambert] and we started this…brand new product in a growing firm, and about a month into my job, which I was really enjoying, the guy who hired me…came in and said, ‘I’m leaving.’ And the other guy about two months after that also said he’s leaving…And they said good luck!”
Suddenly, Virtue was left alone to manage the High Yield Paper department at Drexel. He says he looked about 15 at the time:
“So I’m 23 years old and I’m running a big trading operation. We were underwriting a brand new product…and we’re running about a $5BN book of business…And I said, what do I do? I got to get some people here to do this! And I was 23 and I looked 15 at the most. So I literally went out to people that would actually believe in me to do it, because no one who had been experienced in the business would work with me or for me. So I hired my college roommate, and then I hired my next door neighbor and I started bringing in young guys who said, I get it. They were the only people who would come work for me!”
“It was a lot of fun,” Virtue says, “because we did it with an incredibly young, inexperienced team…it was an incredible experience to be learning on the run.”
The business was very profitable to boot.
Virtue’s early success led him to an accomplished career on Wall Street. After Drexel, he went to Bankers Trust to help build out their investment bank. When Bankers Trust was acquired by Deutsche Bank, Virtue opted for something more entrepreneurial. He became the Chief Executive of DB Capital Partners.
Later, he and his colleagues bought out their portfolio and founded MidOcean Partners, a midmarket private equity firm managing investments for over 75 companies with over $2.5BN under management, where he currently serves as CEO. You may have seen MidOcean in the news recently for the sale of Bushnell Outdoor Products to Alliant Techsystems.
Watch Virtue’s Open Door interview on OneWire here, or check out the video below:
↧
The Incredible And Heartbreaking Story Of The Wall Street CEO Who Lived And Rebuilt His Firm After 9/11
The reason Cantor Fitzgerald's chief executive Howard Lutnick didn't perish during the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center is because of his son.
That Tuesday morning happened to be the day his five-year-old son Kyle started kindergarten. He and his wife both wanted to take him to his first day at Horace Mann School.
Lutnick was in his son's classroom when he first heard news of the attacks that would forever change his life and his firm.
Cantor Fitzgerald occupied the 101st to the 105th floors of One World Trade Center— just above the impact zone of the hijacked plane.
Cantor Fitzgerald suffered the greatest loss of life of any company that day. The financial firm lost 658 of its 960 employees, almost two-thirds of its workforce.
What's even more heartbreaking, Cantor Fitzgerald had a policy of hiring relatives, so those who lost someone at the firm likely lost more than one loved one.
Lutnick lost his brother.
Because the attacks had devastated Cantor Fitzgerald so badly, the firm was not expected to survive. Remarkably, within a week the firm managed to get its trading back online.
And Lutnick made a commitment to keep Cantor Fitzgerald going, despite the odds and the difficult choices that had to be made.
Lutnick made the controversial decision to cut off the paychecks to employees who were killed.
Instead he gave the victims' families 25% of the firm's profits for five years, and 10 years of health insurance.
Cantor Fitzgerald certainly suffered a tremendous loss, but it might also be one of the greatest comeback stories on Wall Street.
Today, Cantor Fitzgerald operates in its Midtown offices at 499 Park Avenue. The new offices are located on the second floor, hundreds of floors below the firm's position in the World Trade Center.
You can watch one of Lutnick's heartbreaking interviews right after the attacks below:
↧
Diddy And A Bunch Of Beauty Queens Are Taking Over Cantor Fitzgerald's Trading Floors Today
Today is Cantor Fitzgerald's and BGC Partners' annual charity day, an event that commemorates the 658 Cantor employees lost in September 11 terrorist attacks by donating the trading day's revenues to forty different charities.
During 9/11, Cantor Fitzgerald occupied the 101st to the 105th floors of One World Trade Center. Cantor lost more people than any other company that day.
At the event today, actors, models, beauty queens and sports stars will be taking over the trading floor to help raise money. Diddy is down at BGC's trading floor right now.
Since the inception of this annual event, Cantor has been able to raise over $89 million for charity.
We've included photos in the slides that follow. Feel free to email your shots to jlaroche@businessinsider.com.
Actor Chance Kelly
Cantor's founder, Edie Lutnick, with Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick's kids, Kyle and Casey. Howard Lutnick was taking his son Kyle to kindergarten when the attacks happened.
The Cantor Relief Fund co-founder Edie Lutnick ringing a bell at 8:46 to commemorate the time when first tower was hit.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
↧
↧
Art Cashin's Haunting Note From The First Day Markets Opened In NYC After 9/11
As Wall Street's unofficial historian, Art Cashin's daily comments document the spirit of those trading the market in New York City. When markets closed after 9/11, that spirit was badly battered.
But like the city itself, the traders got up when it was time to reopen. They went to work, they made their trades, and they avoided looking to the sky.
Today in Cashin's daily note, he included an excerpt from his first comments after markets opened in New York City on September 24th, 2011.
Think of them as a time capsule, and read them below:
On this day, in September of the fateful year 2001, America – and the world – continued to try to find some way to return to normal.
There have been no comments since the atrocity on 9-11. All of our family and staff are safe, thank God. But my office was put out of commission. (It was across a small open park from one of the towers.) We hope to get back into it this week and – maybe – begin regular comments next week.
A Few Personal Comments – A few years back the "New Yorker" magazine ran a whimsical cover showing how “egotistical” New Yorkers might conceive a map of the United States. Satirically it depicted the nation, with three-quarters of its focus on the island of Manhattan. Ironically, after the atrocity on September 11th, the nation’s heart, its concern, its generosity is disproportionately focused on New York in almost the same manner.
Similarly, in each of our lives, the picture we view of the world around us would surely have had us as the dominant feature of the canvas. Yet after the tragedy of that Tuesday, with its image of victims and heroes, of smoke and tears; none of us shall see ourselves so large again. There will be room in that picture for others – many others.
Valuing language and the words that give it shape, meaning and impact, I have always been fascinated by that special group who once wrote for the aforementioned "New Yorker"– James Thurber, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woolcott and E.B. White and others. In simpler times (how foolish! Almost any time was simpler, safer, more secure)...let me start again.....my love for the writers that Harold Ross brought to the Golden Age of the New Yorker (and thus to the legendary "Algonquin Table") was to the comedic/satiric group. The events of 9-11 led me back to E.B. White. He was terrific, but given my satiric leaning I only loved or, at least remember three things about White – his marvelous book on writing style, his caption for a legendary New Yorker cartoon in which an obstinate kid, responding to his mom's explanation that what's on his plate is "broccoli, dear" says – "I say it's spinach and I say – the hell with it!", and – of course – his short story called "The Hour of Letdown" in which a computer built to play chess against a human, stops after the event to have a drink. (I'm not sure why I love that story.)
Nonetheless, the atrocity on September 11th recalled another E.B. White essay. It was (I recall) written over 50 years ago, back when the UN was moving into Manhattan from its early life in "Lake Success" on Long Island.
Much of White's essay, written over a half century ago is filled with meaning and moment this day. It has recently been republished as "Here is New York", if you care to see more. Here are some of the things that bridge generations:
"The subtlest change in New York is something people don't much speak about that is in everyone's mind. The city, for the first time in its long history is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions. The intimation of mortality is part of New York now; in the sound of jets overhead, in the black headlines of the latest edition."
"All dwellers in cities must live with the stubborn fact of annihilation; in New York the fact is more concentrated because of the concentration of the city itself, and because, of all targets, New York has a certain clear priority. In the mind of whatever perverted dreamer might loose the lightning, New York must hold a steady, irresistible charm."
"....New York is not a capital city – it is not a national capital or a state capital. But it is by way of becoming the capital of the world...."
"....Once again the city will absorb, almost without showing any sign of it, a congress of visitors. It has already shown itself capable of stashing away the United Nations – a great many of the delegates have been around town during the past couple of years..."
"This race – the race between the destroying planes and the struggling Parliament of Man – it sticks in all our heads.""The city at last perfectly illustrates both the universal dilemma and the general solution, this riddle in steel and stone that is at once the perfect target and the perfect demonstration of nonviolence, of racial brotherhood, this lofty target, scraping the skies and meeting the destroying planes halfway, home of all people and all nations. Capital of everything, housing those deliberations by which the planes were to be stayed and their errand forestalled."
Thank you, Mr. White! (Mr. White earlier in the essay noted that New York and New Yorkers – and all Americans – do good, do what they do, and have traditionally defied logic and their enemies by not only surviving but actually thriving. And all that was true even a half century ago.)
A More Personal Thought – Many of us got out that Tuesday walking through streets onto which ash, smoke and business envelopes fell snow-like, blocking both your view and your breathing. Yet when a stranger was met, they were invited to join the convoy and offered a spare wet cloth (carried in pockets) through which to breath as they walked. When we reached the East River (Brooklyn side of Manhattan), there was a volunteer group of tugboats, fishing boats and mini-ferries that looked like the evacuation of Dunkirk. No charge. No money. Just – "May I help you!" No one got anyone's name. No thank you cards will be sent. But Americans – even New York Americans – who freely give to strangers but argue with neighbors were suddenly one group.
In the days since, as we wander via new strange ways back to Wall Street, we all internalize the survivor’s quandary. We are lucky to be alive – but why us.
As I noted on TV – none of us headed back to re-open the markets with relish or avarice. The President, the Governor, the Mayor and all officials asked that the markets re-open to provide a means for the economy to work – to unclog an artery.
Day after day, traders, clerks and the thousands of folks who support them walked to work. No spring in their step. Resolute to do their job, they are civil but somber. As they pass checkpoints, they say "thank you" to the policemen, firemen, and National Guardsmen who may have lost brothers saving us and some of our friends.
Ironically, the only smiles you see in Wall Street are on the photocopied photos of the missing that family and friends have taped to walls, mailboxes and lampposts. It may take a long time for smiles to naturally return to Wall Street. It may take a long while to find those criminals who took our smiles and our friends. But, we will have patience. As our President said – "We will not tire. We will not falter. We will not fail!"
↧
FX Is Working On An American Psycho Sequel Series
Man, this could be awesome.
Or man this could totally stink.
Either way, according to Entertainment Weekly, FX is working on an American Psycho sequel series. It's set to take place years after the movie was set. Patrick Bateman, the handsome but delusional Wall Street banker with no conscience whatsoever, is 50 and he's taken on a new apprentice.
We see no mention of Bret Easton Ellis' part in the production, but we're crossing our fingers that the writer has something to do with it.
For now, here's the official logline via EW:
In the new drama series, iconic serial killer Patrick Bateman, now in his mid-50’s but as outrageous and lethal as ever, takes on a protégé in a sadistic social experiment who will become every bit his equal — a next generation American Psycho.”
Like we said, crossing our fingers.
↧
MICHAEL LEWIS: Wall Street Is Still A Great Place For Kids That Don't Actually Know Anything
Now a journalist and author, Michael Lewis is no stranger to Wall Street's draw on young minds.
He worked at Salomon Brothers before resigning to write Liar's Poker in 1989, a tell-all book on mortgage-backed bonds and those who peddled them.
Lewis would go on to write The Big Short, one of the most seminal books on the financial crisis.
Five years on, Bloomberg Businessweek is out with a special issue looking back on the crisis, and Lewis offers his take on the state of Wall Street. From Businessweek:
BusinessWeek: Has Silicon Valley replaced Wall Street as the place for bright young people to make their millions?
Lewis: My sense is that even though the financial crisis has lessened the appeal of the big Wall Street firm, it’s still appealing to kids in school, for the simple reason that unlike Silicon Valley, where you do have to know something to break in, the barriers to entry on Wall Street are quite low once you have the [Ivy League] credentials. If you’re a certain kind of kid who doesn’t actually know anything about anything, Wall Street is still a great place to go.
Just don't do anything stupid or Michael Lewis will report about it.
↧
UBS Banker Arrested For Allegedly Punching A Nightclub Bouncer And Leaving Him In A Coma
A UBS banker was arrested in Sydney, Australia last weekend after allegedly punching a night club bouncer leaving him in a coma, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The banker is 32-year-old James Ian Longworth, who reportedly works in the market support division of UBS.
Longworth told the court that Bar 333's security guard Fady Taiba "made fun" of him and that he had "too much to drink" and he "just snapped."
Taiba wouldn't let Longworth and his friends in the club because they were too intoxicated, the SMH report said citing police.
According to the report, police allege that Longworth hit Taiba when he was looking away. The bouncer fell and hit his head on a tiled floor.
According to The Daily Telegraph, as of yesterday Taiba was still unconscious and induced a coma in the hospital. Following the incident, he had an emergency surgery and part of his skull was removed, the report said.
Longworth got out on bail of more than $1 million, according to The Daily Telegraph. He's not allowed to drink or leave the country.
↧
↧
Now Is Really Not A Good Time For JP Morgan To Be Going Into Battle
It's never a good time to go head to head with swarms of federal regulators, but now is an especially bad moment for the government to be cracking down on JP Morgan.
The bank's widely publicized onslaught of investigations coincides with a particularly uncertain time in the bond market — when the Federal Reserve's five year experiment with quantitative easing is entering its final stages, impacting bond portfolios the world over.
JP Morgan, naturally, is no exception to this. The bank's CFO, Marianne Lake, told attendees at a conference on Monday that the bank's bond portfolio could lose $15 billion on a 2% rise in interest rates.
On the other hand, higher rates do mean that JP Morgan can charge borrowers more. Lake said those two factors should help balance each other out, but, as Stephen Gandel at Forbes points out, that balancing is based on some assumptions that "don't always work out."
Gandel recalls Q2 2013, when interest rates on the 10 year Treasury bond "rose nearly two-thirds of a percentage point, JPMorgan's bond portfolio dropped, down $3.3 billion, as expected, but so did its net interest income. So much for that offset."
How much action the Fed will take, and what impact that will have on rates, remains to be seen. What we do know is that even the rumor of the "taper" roiled bond markets early this summer.
Meanwhile, the bank has hired 3,000 more compliance employees and raised an additional $1.5 billion to combat the myriad of lawsuits it faces. It just paid out $300 million to settle accusations that it forced homeowners to buy over-priced property insurance and entered into kickback deals that inflated policy prices, and it's nearing a settlement over issues with its credit card collection and identity theft products.
But that still leaves a lot of serious suits on the table.
To name only two known suits, there's the $6 billion the FHFA is seeking over financial crisis mortgage claims. JP Morgan must also still answer for missteps during the London Whale trading loss, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, could cost it $500-$600 million.
The list of other knowns goes on, still more troubling though, are the unknowns. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the Wall Street Journal last month that Wall Street should prepare for a wave of financial crisis era lawsuits, and he was specifically asked about Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's CEO, and his bank.
"These are complex cases that require enormous amounts of effort to put together, but we are at a point—as you've seen, I think, recently—where the results of that difficult work is starting to bear fruit," he (Holder) said...
Asked about J.P. Morgan and its chief executive, James Dimon, Mr. Holder declined to discuss specific cases, but added, "No individual, no company is above the law. We don't investigate companies based on who a CEO is, but we don't avoid investigating companies based on who the CEO is, either."
All this said, it's not like the bank didn't see this coming. Jamie Dimon mentioned that regulators had their eyes on the bank in his annual investor letter back in April saying:
...we received regulatory orders requiring improved performance in multiple areas, including mortgage foreclosures, anti-money laundering procedures and others. Unfortunately, we expect we will have more of
these in the coming months. We need to and will do all the work necessary to complete the needed improvements identified by our regulators.
That means "derisking" the business, according to a source close to the situation. Cutting loose some of the parts of JP Morgan that could run the bank afoul of regulators, like its private equity business.
And like its physical commodities business, which was just fined $410 million to settle allegations that its traders manipulated energy markets. Regulators still aren't done probing that part of the business yet, either, and this month the Federal Reserve will decided whether or no the bank is legally allowed to keep it either way.
That's why the Wall Street Journal reported that the bank could circulate memos on the sale of the physical commodities business this week, and that legendary head of the business, Blythe Masters, could exit the bank as part of the deal to sell it.
Still, sources inside the bank see this as short term pain. The drudgery of learning new compliance enhancements and rejiggering the business will pay off, they say, because lets face it — JP Morgan still makes a whole lot of money.
It's still the biggest bank on the Street.
↧
CLASSIC VIDEO BOMB: Two Guys Made Out As CNN Reported Outside Lehman Brothers In 2008
Not a lot of funny things happened during the financial crisis — in fact it's safe to say that nothing about it was funny.
Except for this one moment.
Five years ago, as hundreds of men and women that worked at Lehman Brothers packed their things and left their broken firm, two men nailed the video bomb of financial news history.
It's unclear whether or not CNN's Allan Chernoff realized that two guys were pretending to furiously make out as he reported, but in our opinion America probably needed that cameraman to linger a bit. For the sake of a little levity.
It's also possible that someone got to "2nd base" here...
Start watching about 30 seconds into the video:
↧
Here Are Your Not-So-Scary Friday The 13th Stock Market Stats
Even though Friday the 13th is considered to be an unlucky day, it's not a bad day historically for the market.
Markets guru Art Cashin, UBS Financial Services' director of floor operations at the NYSE, writes in his morning newsletter Cashin's Comments that there's usually a "mild upside bias" on this day. He notes that the market is up 50 to 60% of the time.
Bespoke Investment Group has a table showing the market stats from previous Friday the 13ths:
FT's markets editor Chris Adams has more stats:
Friday the 13th: 52.1% of the time the S&P 500 goes up for the day, but on Fridays it is 54.5%, and on Friday the 13th average is 56.25%
— Chris Adams (@chrisadamsmkts) September 13, 2013
Over the past 144 Friday the 13th days, market has been up 81 times, averaging 0.6603% gain, the best being a 3.34% gain on Oct 13, 2000.
— Chris Adams (@chrisadamsmkts) September 13, 2013
↧