Bank Of America Preferred Stocks Trading At Dramatically Different Yi... -02/20/09 at 5:37 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Only in unprecedented times like these will you ever see the following situation.  Merrill Lynch Trust Preferred stock (stock symbols MER-D, MER-E, MER-F, MER-K, MER-P, MER-U) closed on Friday with an average yield of over 26%, while the virtually identical and better known Bank of America Trust Preferred stock (stock symbols BAC-B, BAC-C, BAC-U, BAC...

The United States Oil Fund: A Way to Short The Market? -02/19/09 at 6:34 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

With fewer people working in the United States, fewer people have been driving.  It had been assumed that this would cause a new trend of falling consumption of oil, as was the case in the early 1980's.  But hold on there.  Oil prices shot up on Thursday after government data showed that oil inventories unexpectedly fell and consumption may...

Consolidation Brings Job Cuts -11/28/08 at 1:46 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

J.P. Morgan is now saying that they will be cutting jobs at Washington Mutual. This is on top of job cuts at their other recent acquisitions, including Bear Stearns. This news highlights a new trend toward profitability - significant job cuts. The continued cuts are sure to significantly impact the economy. And the timing could not be worse. This holi...

Short Selling Implicated in the Greatest Market Cataclysm Since 1929 -11/25/08 at 10:21 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Investigative Reporter Mark Mitchell responded today to a Wall Street Journal article uncovering the fact that short selling played a major role in the current global crisis: Journalists who write about short selling hedge funds fall into three categories. The first category is comprised of a very small number of journalists who have deliberately whitewas...

Banks Eating Each Other Alive -11/24/08 at 1:32 PM CSTby Perry Rod

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that major Wall Street firms placed large bets against Morgan Stanley (MS) using credit-default swaps, two days after Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection. The firms included Merrill Lynch , Citigroup (C) , Deutsche Bank (DB) and UBS, according to the paper. The paper said that a close examination of the ...

Naked Short Sellers Attack Citigroup -11/21/08 at 7:22 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

America's financial system is a mess and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to blame. Short sellers, in a concerted effort to defend themselves and abuse the lack of regulation by the SEC, are now targeting Citigroup (C) while our financial journalists, analysts and government regulators continue to do nothing. At Market Rap we've pointed out...

Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading - So Are Things Back To Norma... -11/18/08 at 6:55 PM CSTby Perry Rod

For a moment yesterday it felt like things were getting back to normal.  A bulletin hit the wire saying that Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban was being charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading.  Even the stock market went up for a good twenty minutes after the wire hit. But it soon hit me right back - ...

Citigroup Cuts 20% of Workforce -11/17/08 at 10:37 AM CSTby Peter York

50,000 people is a lot of people.  That's 50,000 on top of 20,000 layoffs. Citigroup (C) has cut off approximately 30% of its workforce now amid the economic crisis as cost cutting continues.  The danger of all of it is that this is happening in the crucial holiday period, one week before Thanksgiving.  And it's on top of 5% to 10% cuts byJ...

The SEC Naked Short Selling Cover Up -11/12/08 at 8:15 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Mark Mitchell over at DeepCapture.com is reporting on the SEC cover up involving Gary Aguirre, who in 2006 helped break open the scandal of naked short selling.  Here is his report: There was an article in The New York Times yesterday about the SEC’s disgraceful ruling that it will take no disciplinary action against the SEC cronies at the cen...

Another Day Another Rumor -10/28/08 at 2:00 PM CDTby Reggie Abaca

Hedge funds are starting up another rumor now that Morgan Stanley (MS) and two other firms were being "short squeezed" with their investment into Volkswagen. Goldman Sachs, one of the named, declined to comment, but people inside the company said it had no Volkswagen losses. Morgan Stanley spokesman Mark Lake said frankly that company has no exp...

Deutsche Bank Sold Massive Amounts of Phantom Stock -10/16/08 at 7:54 PM CDTby Perry Rod

Mark Mitchell is reporting over at DeepCapture.com that the New York Stock Exchange has handed Deutsche Bank Securities the largest fine in history for violations of SEC rules designed to prevent the creation of what the chairman of the SEC has called “phantom stock.”  Mitchell goes on to report: The NYSE’s disciplinary order states...