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☆ Inside a women-only poker night at the New York Stock Exchange: 'If it's worth betting, it's worth raising'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

BNY Mellon threw a women-only poker night at the NYSE to celebrate International Women's Day. Hours after the markets had closed, I was at the New York Stock Exchange learning how to play poker. This women-only poker night was thrown by Bank of New York Mellon on March 9, the day after International Women's Day. "Aggression is actually a winning strategy," said AJ Rudolph, the director of education and technology at Power Poker, as she walked us through the basics of poker. The Poker Power chips featured Frida Kahlo, Malala Yousafzai, Maya Angelou, and Rosie the Riveter.

☆ U.S. banks' CDS prices surge as contagion concern widens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Mehnaz Yasmin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

March 15 (Reuters) - A jump in the cost for Wall Street banks to insure bonds against default on Wednesday was another worrisome indicator of credit stress for investors amid the crisis at Credit Suisse and at U.S. regional banks. Swiss bank Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) fell to a record low on Wednesday. Five-year credit default swaps for the flagship Swiss bank hit a new record high. Credit default swaps on Credit Suisse also inverted on Wednesday with the two-year rising above the five-year, and both hit a new 52-week high, according to data from Ortex. Some analysts believe that the larger banks are resilient and are more worried about the smaller and mid-sized banks.

☆ This banking crisis is different from the 2008-2009 financial crisis in 4 ways, Moody's chief economist Zandi says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

There are four differences between the current banking crisis and the GFC, Moody's chief economist says. Zandi's comments adds to views that the current banking crisis is different from the situation in 2008. In a series of tweets on Monday, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said the current banking crisis is different from the Global Financial Crisis, or GFC, in four key ways. The financial crisis, which sparked the Great Recession, was one of the worst economic downturns in US history. The economic backdrop is different this time aroundZandi also said the economic backdrop right now is very different from that of the Great Financial Crisis.

☆ Major European bank tells Credit Suisse to seek urgent central bank liquidity backstop - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. banks' CDS prices surge as contagion concern widens, article with imageFinance category · March 15, 2023 · 7:58 PM UTCA jump in the cost for Wall Street banks to insure bonds against default on Wednesday was another worrisome indicator of credit stress for investors amid the crisis at Credit Suisse and at U.S. regional banks.

☆ European markets head for lukewarm open after Wall Street bank stocks rebound
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

European markets are heading for a lukewarm open Wednesday, with European stocks expected to be in mixed territory. That comes despite buoyant trade in Asia-Pacific markets overnight and on Wall Street Tuesday, where U.S. bank stocks rebounded on optimism that the contagion risk from Silicon Valley Bank's collapse was contained. U.S. stock futures were flat early Wednesday morning. The U.K. is gearing up for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's "Spring Budget" today in which he's expected to announce key pension and child-care reforms as the country continues to battle a cost of living crisis.

☆ Meta to cut 10,000 jobs in second round of layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META.O) said on Tuesday it would cut 10,000 jobs, the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs as the industry braces for a deep economic downturn. With the latest move, Meta expects expenses in 2023 to come in between $86 billion and $92 billion, lower than the $89 billion to $95 billion forecast previously. Zuckerberg said Meta will remove multiple layers of management, ask managers to become individual contributors and give them less than 10 direct reports, which would in turn make the organization "flatter." Meta's move in November to slash its headcount by 11,000 marked the first mass layoffs in its 18-year history. Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: SVB collapse may prompt Fed to go slow on rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Traders no longer expect a rate hike of 50 basis points by the U.S. Federal Reserve next week as the surprise collapse of lender Silicon Valley Bank rattles the financial system. The current projection is for a 25 bps move, with some expecting no hike at all or even a cut. That is a quick reversal in expectations after hawkish commentary from Fed Chair Jerome Powell had prompted traders to see a 70% chance of a 50 bps rate hike just a week earlier. Following are rate expectations from major Wall Street banks:Compiled by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ As tech gets hit again, strategists say these stocks present a buying opportunity
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that interest rates are likely to remain "higher than previously anticipated" — usually viewed as bad news for the tech sector. But some market pros see the volatility as an opportunity to snap up growth stocks at bargain prices. Big Tech stock picks Speaking last week, before the sell-off, Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs, urged investors to watch for pullbacks. AI is expected to grow at a compounded rate of 37% by 2026, Jablonski added, citing research by global market intelligence firm International Data Corporation. Firetrail Investments' Anthony Doyle also identified Microsoft as a tech stock he's bullish on , despite the volatility.

☆ SVB: What the worst bank failure since 2008 means for markets, the financial sector, and interest rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Here's what SVB's sudden demise means for markets, the US banking sector, and interest rates. That capped a turbulent week that saw a botched fundraising attempt by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and a $1.8 billion loss on its bond holdings, which ultimately triggered an old-fashioned bank run. Silicon Valley Bank's collapse exposed a serious risk many banks face in their business portfolios – the dependence on uninsured deposits. However, former Treasury chief Larry Summers took a less pessimistic view, saying SVB's collapse was "unlikely to be a broadly systemic problem." But as bad as it is, it's unlikely to trigger a repeat of the 2008 global financial crisis that set the stage for the Great Recession, according to analysts.

☆ SVB is still looking for a buyer. Here is what we know so far.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The weekend came and went without a buyer for SVB Financial Group, the parent company of the failed Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Capital focuses on venture capital and credit investing and SVB Securities is its investment banking arm. Axios reported Monday morning that JPMorgan and PNC were in talks to acquire SVB Financial Group but not the failed commercial bank. SVB Securities, better known as SVB Leerink, the investment banking arm born out of SVB's 2018 acquisition of Leerink, is a very desirable business, he added. "SVB Leerink is a well-known name in the tech and healthcare space that will be attractive to someone," said Healy.

☆ Wall Street — not taxpayers — will pay for the SVB and Signature deposit relief plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Plans announced Sunday to fully reimburse deposits made in the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank and the shuttered Signature Bank will rely on Wall Street and large financial institutions — not taxpayers — to foot the bill, Treasury officials said. The DIF currently has over $100 billion in it, a sum the Treasury official said was "more than fully sufficient" to cover SVB and Signature depositors. To that end, federal officials strongly pushed back on the idea that the plans for SVB and Signature constituted a "bailout." Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., insisted that "If there is a bailout of Silicon Valley Bank, it must be 100 percent financed by Wall Street and large financial institutions." On Sunday afternoon, Treasury approved of plans that would unwind both SVB and Signature Bank, based in New York, "in a manner that fully protects all depositors."

☆ These million-dollar luxury condos used to be the storied offices of a big Wall Street bank. See inside the transformation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Developer Macklowe Properties converted a Financial District office building into a condominium. The 1.25 million-square-foot tower is the largest office-to-residential conversion in New York City. The New York landmark was completely reconfigured inside, including removing 30 elevators. Developer Macklowe Properties took on the challenge of creating 566 luxury residences while maintaining the original Art Deco aesthetic of the 1.25 million-square-foot building. Once most of the inside was gutted, it made for a clean canvas for Smith to reconstruct office space to residential, she said.

After a bank run of $42 billion in withdrawals, Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday. The founders were banking at Silicon Valley Bank and wanted to switch banks immediately after being told by their venture investors that the bank was suffering from "liquidity issues." The go-to bank of Silicon ValleySilicon Valley Bank has been a pillar of the startup of ecosystem for four decades, acting as the go-to financial institution for VC fundraising and building strong ties with founders and investors alike. This helped bolster SVB's reputation as the go-to bank of Silicon Valley in the good times, but exacerbated the crisis when it hit Thursday and Friday. "If you're given responsibility to run this iconic Silicon Valley company, you need some humility."

☆ Goldman Sachs tried to help SVB. It didn't work. Here's what happened.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Goldman helped set up a stock offering ahead of a credit rating downgrade. Late last week, its parent company, SVB Financial Group, turned to Goldman Sachs to help it navigate a difficult situation. It was a rare miss for Goldman Sachs and raises questions about whether the investment bank provided poor advice. Before the following day, SVB's stock continued declining. And it was left to Centerview, a boutique mergers advisor, and not Goldman, to help the bank pick up the pieces.

☆ Who will step up to buy SVB? The white knight might be a bank outside Wall Street.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

SVB Bank, which catered to startups and tech founders, imploded in three days after a run on the bank. SVB Financial is reportedly looking to find a buyer by Monday. The implosion of Silicon Valley Bank means a working weekend for some bankers. SVB Financial Group is on the hunt for a buyer after regulators closed its Silicon Valley Banking business, according to Bloomberg. Though SVB's bond losses are taking up the headlines, its parent company SVB Financial has two business segments that are enticing.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) fell 1.7% on broad-based losses, with HSBC (HSBA.L), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Barclays (BARC.L), Unicredit (CRDI.MI) and Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) down between 2.7% and 7.2%. If it can happen to a U.S. bank, it could potentially happen to a bank in Europe as well." Next week, the focus is likely to be on the European Central Bank which is expected to hike its key lending rate by 50 bps. Daimler Truck (DTGGe.DE) added 3.5% on dividend payment plans after hitting its 2022 targets and forecasting higher earnings and revenue this year. Reporting by Susan Mathew and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Dhanya Ann ThoppilOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Former Goldman Sachs Banker to Be Sentenced for 1MDB Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Roger Ng, in blue shirt, says he isn’t guilty but has accepted the jury’s verdict. A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker is set to be sentenced Thursday for helping to loot billions of dollars from a Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund in a global financial scandal that tarnished the Wall Street bank. Roger Ng , a 51-year-old Malaysian national, was convicted last year in a New York federal court in Brooklyn of conspiring with a well-connected financier and a former Goldman partner to pay off officials to win lucrative business deals with 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a state-controlled economic-development company known as 1MDB.

☆ Former Goldman Sachs Banker Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for 1MDB Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Roger Ng, in blue shirt, says he isn’t guilty but has accepted the jury’s verdict. A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for helping to loot billions of dollars from a Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund in a global financial scandal that tarnished the Wall Street bank. Roger Ng , a 51-year-old Malaysian national, was convicted last year in a New York federal court in Brooklyn of conspiring with a well-connected financier and a former Goldman partner to pay off officials to win lucrative business deals with 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a state-controlled economic-development company known as 1MDB.

The Wall Street bank also wants Staley to repay all compensation from 2006 to 2013. Staley has acknowledged having been friendly with Epstein, but expressed regret for their relationship and denied knowing about the financier's alleged crimes. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Staley resigned as Barclays' chief executive in November 2021 amid a dispute with British financial regulators examining his ties to Epstein. The cases are JPMorgan Chase Bank NA v Staley, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

At the Fontainebleau hotel, Credit Suisse bankers were puzzled by the announcements, and concerned about their jobs being on the line, said the executive, who declined to be named. In response to questions from Reuters for this article, a spokesperson for Credit Suisse in London said: "We never comment on rumours or speculation." 'A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE'Even after Credit Suisse stopped financing hedge funds following the Archegos implosion in March 2021, the equities business remained a key part of its investment bank revenue. One option Credit Suisse is considering is to move its equities research to CSFB, Reuters reported. Slimming down the equities business would draw a further line under Credit Suisse's investment bank ambitions.

☆ How universities became giant piggy banks for hedge-fund billionaires
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Catherine Liu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

The move also marked the beginning of a new way to manage endowment funds. The arrangement has been a boon for the hedge-fund managers who received university endowment cash, but the benefits for the schools are trickier to parse. As Eaton put it in his book, universities directed funds to "wherever those allocations would generate the largest further investment returns." Eaton estimated in 2017 that tax breaks for university endowments cost federal coffers up to $19 billion a year. As the influence of billionaires and hedge-fund managers has grown, universities have moved further away from their ultimate goal: educating people.

☆ U.S. CFPB's bid to curb late credit card fees faces strong opposition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Niket Nishant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Fitch identified Discover Financial Services (DFS.N), Capital One Financial (COF.N), Synchrony Financial (SYF.N) and Bread Financial Holdings (BFH.N) among those at risk. Credit card companies typically rely on late fees to act as a bulwark against spending volumes tapering off when the economic environment is tough. If the CFPB's rule is implemented in its current form, it could reduce those fees by as much as 75% annually, the agency said. Michael Taiano, senior analyst at Fitch Ratings, said card companies could potentially resort to legal action to delay enforcement of these rules. "They could also respond by introducing other fees, like statement charges, which would charge a customer every time they request a statement," Taiano said.

☆ Stocks making the biggest premarket moves: Ferrari, Apple, KB Home and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In a note to clients, Jonas cited Ferrari's backlog and pricing power as reasons to raise his price target on the stock by more than 10%. Apple — The iPhone maker advanced 2% premarket after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a buy rating, saying Apple could get a big boost from its services business. The Wall Street bank's 12-month price target of $199 implies Apple could rally more than 30% from here. KB Home — The homebuilder slipped 1.4% following a double downgrade to underweight from overweight by JPMorgan. Horton, another homebuilder, fell a little more than 1% after it was downgraded by JPMorgan to neutral from overweight.

☆ The explosion of risky zero-day options could worsen market shocks, JPMorgan says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Daily notional volumes in these 0DTE options that track the S & P 500 recently reached a record above $1 trillion, according to JPMorgan data. The Wall Street bank conducted an experiment to see the impact of these options during a sudden drop in the broader market. "The estimated market impacts from 0D option unwind exceed the original market shocks in all scenarios, highlighting the reflexive nature of the 0D options and their potential risk posed to market stability," JPMorgan said. The S & P 500 pulled back by 2.6% in February after rallying more than 6% in the prior month. In early March, the broader market index is up by more than 2%.

☆ Morgan Stanley forecasts key ECB rate to peak at 4%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Sudip Kar-Gupta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, March 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley on Friday raised its forecast for the European Central Bank's (ECB) so-called terminal rate - the level to which it believes the ECB's key interest rate will rise - to 4% as inflationary pressures weigh on the euro zone. "Following material revisions to our inflation forecast, we now expect the ECB's terminal rate at 4%," the bank wrote in a research note. The move by Morgan Stanley, which had previously seen the ECB terminal rate at 3.25%, follows similar revisions by other leading investment banks, driven by inflationary pressures within the euro zone. JP Morgan this week raised its forecast on the ECB's 'terminal' rate to 3.75% from 3.50% previously. On Friday, ECB governing council member and Belgian national bank governor Pierre Wunsch said the ECB could consider raising its key interest rate to as high as 4% if underlying inflation in the euro zone remains persistently high.

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