Wall Street

The stock market has been posting gains the past few days. After two very tough months to start 2009, what could go wrong? Plenty, especially if you are focused on just the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Don't get hung up on the Dow Jones. The Dow Jones may not be a "relevant" yardstick for you to use. After all, it's only 30 stocks…and you might not own ANY of them.

You're probably not aware of this, but in the financial services industry, firms and advisors are strictly prohibited from running testimonials of any sort.

Many companies consider pulling a reverse stock split to avoid getting delisted. But many wind up taking that path eventually anyway. Can you imagine Citibank getting delisted from the New York Stock Exchange?

Someone is actually holding Jim Cramer responsible for some of the advice he has given, and also for the fact that CNBC has "morphed" into an entertainment channel.

Banks (and brokerage firms) that own mortgage backed securities have been required — since November 2007 — to use mark to market accounting on these securities. Coincidentally, this was just around the time these mortgage securities started dropping precipitously in value. 2007 saw many mortgage firms get wiped out, and brokerage firms and banks holding these assets started realizing the volatility of these assets.

By re-inflating the value of many securities on hand at banks, this will automatically raise the capital ratios at these banks.

Mark to Market is a topic I have written about previously.
You can read about them here. (…)

Warren Buffett writes an annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway each year.  If you've never read them, you really ought to.  They are priceless gems.  Not a laugh a minute, but an interesting observation on what's happening. (…)

Throwing good money after bad into these banks is not the answer. (…)

There have been several articles written recently regarding stockbrokers and retention bonuses. (…)

What is left in the governments bag of tricks to get the banks back on track?  One topic that I wrote about — 5 months ago — has popped up this past week with more and more frequency.  We are finally starting to hear more and more chatter about relaxing "Mark to the market" regulations. (…)

Brokers and TARP Money
Looks like others are starting to learn the story.  Your individual stock broker — getting TARP money — is just plain wrong.    And the size of these retention bonuses is extreme. (…)

When I was in college, I loved listening to a local college radio station (WFUV, Fordham) that had a sports-talk show on Sunday nights.  The show featured something new: phone calls from listeners!  This was more than 25 years ago, before WFAN in New York, ESPN Radio and all the other sports outlets we have today. (…)

This may be enlightening.   Guess what?  In some cases,
Your Stockbroker is Getting TARP Money.
Not just the brokerage firm, YOUR stockbroker himself or herself is getting TARP money. (…)

In this podcast, Tom Mullooly discusses several reasons why
Citibank would consider selling Smith Barney, to their competitor, Morgan Stanley. (…)

Is the SIPC responsible for helping Madoff clients? (…)

The federal, state and local governments are co–losers with Madoff investors. (…)

Former NASDAQ chairman Bernard Madoff disclosed this week that the investment advisory firm he has run (aside from his market making business) was, in fact a fraud.  It's unknown exactly how much money has been lost, but it appears to be somewhere between $17 billion and $50 billion. (…)

The Treasury announced they will begin to inject capital (money) into banks, under terms created under the bailout bill.  This article will try to walk through, in English, what this all means. (…)