Goldman Sachs and four other financial firms are facing claims that they rigged the $550 billion market for bonds backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Bloomberg. In the Southern District of New York, a proposed class action suit accuses the institutions of driving down the offer that they bought unsecured bonds at […]
U.S. Financial System Rests on 5 Mega Banks; and They Tanked Yesterday…
By the closing bell of yesterday’s broad stock market selloff, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had been down over 900 points in the afternoon, closed with a loss of 767 points or 2.90 percent. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index closed even deeper in the red with a loss of 2.98 percent. But those […]
Wall Street Banks, in Drag as Trade Associations, Fight Indictments for Manipulating Precious Metals Markets…
On July 18 of last year, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted two Merrill Lynch precious metals traders, Edward Bases and John Pacilio, charging them each with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution and one count of commodities fraud each. Pacilio was further charged with five counts of spoofing. […]
Merrill Lynch Caught Criminally Manipulating Precious Metals Market “Thousands Of Times” Over 6 Years…
Remember when it was pure tinfoil-hat conspiracy theory to accuse one or more banks of aggressively, compulsively and systematically manipulating the precious metals – i.e., gold and silver – market? We do, after all we made the claim over and over, while demonstrating clearly just how said manipulation was taking place, often in real time. […]
Auto Dealership Stocks Plunge on Bank of America Warning of ‘Looming Tsunami’…
BofA/Merrill analyst John Murphy downgraded Lithia Motors to Underperform from Neutral and cut its price target to $92 from $106. The analyst lowered US sales and North American production forecasts saying year-to-date sales tracking down 2%, following a likely peak in 2016, and there is a “looming tsunami” of off-lease volumes that will hit the […]
The US Consumer Taps Out: BofA Internal Credit Card Data Shows Retail Spending Tumbles…
Ahead of this week’s big macro event, Thursday’s retail sales report, Bank of America has, as is customary, released its own internal credit and debit card data. It’s downright ugly…
Why Are So Many Bankers Committing Suicide?…
Three bankers in New York, London and Siena, Italy, died within 17 months of each other in 2013-14 in what authorities deemed a series of unrelated suicides…