Linkfest: Insider trading epidemic? Fear of bond contagion spurs market reform push; A CPI surprise for the FOMC
Categories: Linkfest
Today’s most shared:
- Study of stock options finds evidence of widespread insider trading.
- Liquidity mismatch: Investors reach for yield, use bond funds as bank accounts. Will a rise in interest rates and losses trigger a run on the bond market? Fed looks at exit fees to prevent runs, while PIMCO’s McCulley would like the Fed to be a permanent dealer-of-last-resort, and give bond funds a liquidity backstop.
- CPI upside surprise puts focus on this week’s big Fed meeting.
- How brokers earned high commissions by rolling AT&T retirees from low-cost 401(k)s into higher cost variable annuities. Their retirement accounts couldn’t take advantage of any tax benefit from variable annuities, which is a key selling point despite high fees.
- Morgan Stanley investment bankers’ hypocritical sales pitch makes acquisition target Allergan see red, release embarrassing e-mails in novel M&A defense.
- The stock market is a better investment when unemployment is higher, because that’s when investors are pessimistic, but also because it keeps a lid on labor costs.
- A rare interlude of good news on health spending.
Study Asserts Startling Numbers of Insider Trading Rogues
New York Times
Two professors have evidence of what we’ve long suspected: Insider trading is far more common than the number of prosecutions would suggest, arising from perhaps a quarter of all public company deals.
shared by @bespokeinvest, @markgongloff, @retheauditors, @AnjuliDavies
New York Times
Two professors have evidence of what we’ve long suspected: Insider trading is far more common than the number of prosecutions would suggest, arising from perhaps a quarter of all public company deals.
shared by @bespokeinvest, @markgongloff, @retheauditors, @AnjuliDavies
Fed looks at exit fees on bond funds
Financial Times
Federal Reserve officials have discussed whether regulators should impose exit fees on bond funds to avert a potential run by investors, underlining concern about the vulnerability of the $10tn corporate bond market.
shared by @jennablan, @HamzeiAnalytics, @mark_dow, Business Insider
Financial Times
Federal Reserve officials have discussed whether regulators should impose exit fees on bond funds to avert a potential run by investors, underlining concern about the vulnerability of the $10tn corporate bond market.
shared by @jennablan, @HamzeiAnalytics, @mark_dow, Business Insider
Make shadow banks safe and private money sound
Financial Times
The rise of the shadow bank – a kind of credit intermediary that lies outside the range of much banking regulation – carries a subtler corollary. Rightly, the US Federal Reserve is responding by forging new tools.
shared by @delong, @munilass, @M_C_Klein
Financial Times
The rise of the shadow bank – a kind of credit intermediary that lies outside the range of much banking regulation – carries a subtler corollary. Rightly, the US Federal Reserve is responding by forging new tools.
shared by @delong, @munilass, @M_C_Klein
Retirees Suffer as 401(k) Rollover Boom Enriches Brokers
Bloomberg
Kathleen Tarr says AT&T Inc. employees looked to her as “their de facto 401(k) expert.” Visiting their homes and offices, she advised them on their retirement plans as they called up balances on computer screens.
shared by @charlesforelle, @jasonzweigwsj, @pkedrosky, @Kelly_Evans
Bloomberg
Kathleen Tarr says AT&T Inc. employees looked to her as “their de facto 401(k) expert.” Visiting their homes and offices, she advised them on their retirement plans as they called up balances on computer screens.
shared by @charlesforelle, @jasonzweigwsj, @pkedrosky, @Kelly_Evans
Wealthy Clintons Use Trusts to Limit Estate Tax They Back
Bloomberg
Bill and Hillary Clinton have long supported an estate tax to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by inherited wealth. That doesn’t mean they want to pay it.
shared by @BarbarianCap, @ProPublica, @nasiripour, @eisingerj
Bloomberg
Bill and Hillary Clinton have long supported an estate tax to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by inherited wealth. That doesn’t mean they want to pay it.
shared by @BarbarianCap, @ProPublica, @nasiripour, @eisingerj
Kravis Still Shaking Wall Street Steers KKR Into Lending
Bloomberg
Henry Kravis, the king of rough-and- tumble leveraged buyouts, picked up a phone at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, and called the chief executive officer of one of Spain’s biggest producers of building materials.
shared by @LaurenLaCapra, @volatilitysmile, @IvanTheK, @EpicureanDeal
Bloomberg
Henry Kravis, the king of rough-and- tumble leveraged buyouts, picked up a phone at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, and called the chief executive officer of one of Spain’s biggest producers of building materials.
shared by @LaurenLaCapra, @volatilitysmile, @IvanTheK, @EpicureanDeal
Macro-stabilisation and tax rebates
VOX
Tax rebates get spent, which is a point in their favor for effective countercyclical fiscal policy.
shared by Credit Writedowns, @MarkThoma, reddit/Economics, @FGoria, @edwardnh
VOX
Tax rebates get spent, which is a point in their favor for effective countercyclical fiscal policy.
shared by Credit Writedowns, @MarkThoma, reddit/Economics, @FGoria, @edwardnh
The Economy, The Markets, And The Fed: Here’s What It’s All About
Business Insider
It’s time to talk about the big story in the economy.
shared by @felixsalmon, @mark_dow
Business Insider
It’s time to talk about the big story in the economy.
shared by @felixsalmon, @mark_dow
Fernandez Court Rebuff Gives Argentina Two-Week Deadline
Bloomberg
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner ruled out complying with a U.S. court order to pay holders of defaulted bonds in full, leaving Argentina two weeks to come up with a way to avoid a second debt crisis in 13 years.
shared by Credit Writedowns, @edwardnh, Marginal Revolution
Bloomberg
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner ruled out complying with a U.S. court order to pay holders of defaulted bonds in full, leaving Argentina two weeks to come up with a way to avoid a second debt crisis in 13 years.
shared by Credit Writedowns, @edwardnh, Marginal Revolution
Investor distrust drives rise in cash holdings
Financial Times
It is an immutable truth of investing that you should sell at the top and buy at the bottom. And it is almost as immutable a truth that most of us do exactly the opposite, buying at the top and selling at the bottom.
shared by @ritholtz, @ReformedBroker, Reformed Broker, @tomkeene
Financial Times
It is an immutable truth of investing that you should sell at the top and buy at the bottom. And it is almost as immutable a truth that most of us do exactly the opposite, buying at the top and selling at the bottom.
shared by @ritholtz, @ReformedBroker, Reformed Broker, @tomkeene
Morgan Stanley’s Opinion of Valeant Is Evolving
Bloomberg View
Seriously people keep talking about "Snapchat for business," but it is well past time for that. That’s a billion-dollar market right there.
shared by @AnjuliDavies, @PreetaTweets, @peter_tl, @eisingerj, @ThemisSal, @TimOBrien
Bloomberg View
Seriously people keep talking about "Snapchat for business," but it is well past time for that. That’s a billion-dollar market right there.
shared by @AnjuliDavies, @PreetaTweets, @peter_tl, @eisingerj, @ThemisSal, @TimOBrien
Measuring Recovery? Count the Employed, Not the Unemployed
New York Times
The employment rate shows that the economy is improving. It also shows that it has a long way to go.
shared by @MarkThoma, reddit/Economics, @ThemisSal, @pdacosta, @bondscoop
New York Times
The employment rate shows that the economy is improving. It also shows that it has a long way to go.
shared by @MarkThoma, reddit/Economics, @ThemisSal, @pdacosta, @bondscoop
Justin Wolfers on Piketty
nber.org
A slide show from leading economist.
shared by reddit/Economics, Marginal Revolution, Business Insider
nber.org
A slide show from leading economist.
shared by reddit/Economics, Marginal Revolution, Business Insider
A Piketty Protégé’s Theory on Tax Havens
New York Times
New research suggests that tax evasion deepens inequality.
shared by Marginal Revolution, reddit/Economics, @Alea_, @MarkThoma
New York Times
New research suggests that tax evasion deepens inequality.
shared by Marginal Revolution, reddit/Economics, @Alea_, @MarkThoma
How The Unemployment Rate Affects Stock Market Performance
awealthofcommonsense.com
“Fear has a greater grasp on human action than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel
shared by Calculated Risk, @ReformedBroker, @nancefinance, Reformed Broker
awealthofcommonsense.com
“Fear has a greater grasp on human action than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel
shared by Calculated Risk, @ReformedBroker, @nancefinance, Reformed Broker
Orszag: It’s time for some optimism about health care spending
vox.com
Health coverage is surging. Health care spending isn’t.
shared by @mark_dow, @davidmwessel, @TheArmoTrader, @JustinWolfers
vox.com
Health coverage is surging. Health care spending isn’t.
shared by @mark_dow, @davidmwessel, @TheArmoTrader, @JustinWolfers
StreetEYE.com follows the best ‘curators’ on the web and social media, and finds all the top financial news right now, as voted by you.
Please help us pick the most important stories you think should appear in this linkfest by voting here!