U.S. banks enjoyed a bumper crop of results during the third quarter thanks to volatile conditions in fixed income trading. While some attribute the healthy performance to the so-called Brexit bounce, others point to a wider range of factors behind the better-than-predicted numbers. Analysts had forecast a downbeat earnings season for the U.S. banking sector,… Read More >>
Ops Issues Lost in the Horrible Hoopla
The U.S. race for president is becoming an odd mix of entertainment and a train wreck that you can’t stop watching. Yet, while everyone’s emotions are being run ragged, there are some issues related to securities operations that quickly got lost in the horrible hoopla. The first securities Ops issue that I thought would be… Read More >>
Glass-Steagall May Survive the U.S. Presidential Race
The major U.S. political party conventions to nominate Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for president have been nothing if not colorful. Yet hidden among the balloons and confetti is the news that both political parties have more or less endorsed a return to the Glass-Steagall provision separating commercial and investment banking. Our first stop is… Read More >>
Some Thoughts as We Approach the Abyss
We are past the midway point for this year and I think we have all had enough of the surprises, shocks and downright tragedies. Yet there is every reason to worry that they will continue. The hard part is figuring out how to keep moving ahead despite the undertows of deep sorrow and anger that… Read More >>
House Financial Services Chair Offers Plan to Gut Dodd-Frank
The Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling, has unveiled a plan to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, which he has called a “grave mistake,” and replace it with the Financial CHOICE Act. CHOICE, in the Hensarling plan, is an acronym for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs…. Read More >>
A Wish List for the Presidential Debates
Now that the smoke is clearing from the U.S. presidential primary battles and we have two clear winners, let me offer a few suggestions to the presumptive nominees Donald Trump for the Republicans and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats. (Bernie, please exit while you still have your dignity.) This is a wish list of Wall… Read More >>
Reporter’s Notebook: How Donald Trump Horrifies Europe
(Editor’s note: Lynn Strongin Dodds, a London-based contributor to FTF News, shares her views of the Trump phenomenon. Dodds has dual citizenship in the U.S. and the U.K.) Although the U.K. is in the throes of the European Union referendum debate, there is also incredulity that Donald Trump has clinched the Republican nomination. It was… Read More >>
Why Trump Has Few Friends on Wall Street
As we have seen during the endless presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party has skillfully ducked specifics when making speeches or during debates. Until last week, Trump, who loves to blast his own horn, has been rather quiet about the Dodd-Frank reforms. But that is over. “Dodd-Frank has made… Read More >>
Bernie Sanders Joins Trump Campaign
After several secret overtures, real estate mogul and self-declared King of America, Donald J. Trump has apparently seduced U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders into the joys of capitalism and the former sappy socialist from Vermont is begging forgiveness from “yuge” Wall Street behemoths. In a major rally today outside of the New York Stock Exchange, the… Read More >>
Wall Street Sharpens the Hillary vs. Bernie Clash
The Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination Hillary Clinton has hit a big political snag because of her connections to Wall Street. This became painfully clear during the televised debate on Thursday, Feb. 4, on the eve of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, Feb. 9. To recap, Clinton’s opponent (former?) socialist/independent and now-Democrat-shouter U.S…. Read More >>
