- Confident Chiesi breaks silence
- Galleon Tipper Goel Pleads Guilty, Says Rajaratnam Got Secrets
- Traders in record bet against the euro
- Greece Says Call for Aid Would Send ‘Worst Signal’
- Barclays CEO Says U.S. Plans ‘Bad’ for Global Rules
- Judge Questions Bank of America’s New Deal With S.E.C.
- BofA’s Price may need to be sidelined
- UBS Increases Bonus Pool 34% to 2.9 Billion Francs
- No Exit in Sight for U.S. As Fannie, Freddie Flail
- Toyota To Recall 437,000 Hybrids As Prius Concerns Add To Woes
- Toyota Halts Lexus, SAI Hybrid Shipments on Brake Problems
Confident Chiesi breaks silence – NY Post
As one associate of accused insider trading mastermind Raj Rajaratnam pleaded guilty yesterday, a key figure in the alleged scheme was professing her innocence and lamenting her portrayal as a foul-mouthed flirt who used her wiles to extract information.“There is not even a chance we will do one day in jail,” Danielle Chiesi boldly told Reuters. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”She added that it had been “an honor and a privilege” to stand next to Rajaratnam in court. The two are set to make another court appearance Thursday…..
Rajiv Goel, a former managing director in Intel Corp.’s treasury group, pleaded guilty in the Galleon Group LLC insider-trading case and will cooperate in the government’s prosecution of Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam.Goel, 51, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy and securities fraud in federal court in Manhattan and implicated Rajaratnam, whom Goel said he’d known for 25 years, in two insider trades. Goel told U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein that he gave Rajaratnam inside information on Intel earnings and the company’s plan to invest in a publicly traded company in 2007 and 2008.“I gave Rajaratnam the information because of my friendship for him,” Goel said. “I cannot express how sorry I am. I come here to do the right thing.”….
Traders in record bet against the euro – Financial Times
Traders and hedge funds have bet nearly $8bn (£5.1bn) against the euro, amassing the biggest ever short position in the single currency on fears of a eurozone debt crisis.Figures from CME Group, which are often used as a proxy of hedge fund activity, showed investors had increased their positions against the euro to record levels in the week to February 2…..
Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said he can’t call for outside aid as his government struggles to cut the European Union’s largest budget deficit.“The worst possible signal which we could send out is one calling for outside help,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Athens yesterday. “We will tackle the deficit,” he said, adding that tax revenues in January exceeded forecasts “by some percentage points.”….
Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer John Varley said U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposals to limit the size and risk-taking of banks are “bad” for global regulatory consensus.“The United States, the leader of the capital markets in the world, has gone in its own direction,” Varley told the House of Commons Treasury Committee in Westminster today. “What I think we need is convergence of regulatory activity, not independence of regulatory activity.”….
A federal judge left open the possibility on Monday that he might reject a new $150 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America over the bank’s controversial takeover of Merrill Lynch, a move that could force the case to go to trial.Judge Jed S. Rakoff, in a United States District Court hearing in Manhattan, pointedly questioned the settlement, which was announced last week. Earlier he rejected as too low a $33 million deal in what was widely seen as a black eye for the S.E.C…..
BofA’s Price may need to be sidelined - Reuters
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) executive Joseph Price has already been moved from his job as CFO, but yesterday’s lawsuit from New York’s attorney general raises questions about whether Price might need to be sidelined entirely.The consumer, small business and credit card units Price, 49, now heads are at the heart of the largest U.S. bank. These units include most of the troubled loans that have triggered the bank to report two consecutive quarters of losses.The businesses need attention that Price may not be able to give as he deals with the lawsuit, analysts say…..
UBS Increases Bonus Pool 34% to 2.9 Billion Fr
ancs - Bloomberg
UBS AG said it will pay out 34 percent more in bonuses for 2009 as the biggest Swiss bank by assets reported its first quarterly profit in more than a year.The bonus pool amounts to 2.9 billion Swiss francs ($2.7 billion), Andreas Kern, a spokesman for the Zurich-based bank, said by phone today. That compares with a 2008 payout of 2.16 billion francs in variable pay to staff, excluding U.S. brokers.Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel, who isn’t getting a bonus, vowed to stick to a policy of paying market-level compensation since joining the bank almost a year ago. UBS last year boosted salaries for senior bankers at its securities unit by an average of 50 percent to increase the ratio of fixed pay. While the bank hasn’t yet been as successful as most of its rivals, Gruebel said UBS must pay industry rates.…..
No Exit in Sight for U.S. As Fannie, Freddie Flail - Wall Street Journal
….Fannie and Freddie, for their part, remain at the core of a housing-finance system that inflated a dangerous housing bubble. After prices collapsed, sending shock waves around the world, the federal government put America’s housing-finance system on life support. It has yet to decide how that troubled system should be rebuilt.On Dec. 24, Treasury said there would be no limit to the taxpayer money it was willing to deploy over the next three years to keep the two companies afloat, doing away with the previous limit of $200 billion per company. So far, the government has handed the two companies a total of about $111 billion…..
Toyota To Recall 437,000 Hybrids As Prius Concerns Add To Woes – Wall Street Journal
Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO) said Tuesday it is recalling about 437,000 high-tech hybrid vehicles in major markets, including Japan, to fix problems with anti-lock braking systems, adding further pressure in a growing recall saga that is denting the reputation of Japan’s biggest auto maker for reliability.Though widely expected, Toyota’s latest recall will spark renewed concerns about how damaging to its finances its current woes may be.In a statement issued after the hybrid recall was announced, Moody’s ratings agency placed Toyota’s long-term Aa1 credit rating under review for a possible downgrade. It cited concerns that “the growing scale of Toyota’s product problems and associated recalls may have longer term impacts on its brand equity, pricing power and market share in key markets.”….
Toyota Motor Corp. stopped shipments of its Lexus HS250h and SAI hybrids from a factory in southern Japan due to possible brake problems with the models, which use the same system as Prius hybrid cars.Shipments from the factory in Kyushu were stopped yesterday to inspect the models, Norifumi Wakikawa, a spokesman at Toyota Motor Kyushu, said by phone today. Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, is expected to recall the 2010 version of the Prius in Japan this week to repair a problem with the braking system.Scrutiny of the vehicles may further tarnish Toyota’s reputation after the Toyota City, Japan-based company recalled almost 8 million cars globally to repair separate defects linked to unintended acceleration. Those recalls have yet to include any cars in Japan, where the Prius was last year’s top-selling model…..
Tags: Autos, Bank of America, Barclays, Bonuses, Compensation, Currencies, Euro, Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac, Galleon, Greece, Hedge funds, Insider Trading, Politics, Raj Rajaratnam, recalls, SEC, Sovereign debt, Toyota, UBS
