The future investment stars are already with us. The NYSE Financial Future Challenge, operated by the NYSE Foundation, By Kids for Kids, K12 Inc. and the United Investors Association, is in full swing, with five finalists just identified. To reach this level, the participants had to develop a new product, idea or process that would "excite, educate and motivate their peers" to become interested in the financial marketplace. The eventual winner lurks within this subset and will receive a $2,500 prize -- a great way to get that portfolio started. And, he or she will be feted at a closing bell ceremony at the NYSE (NYX) on January 11, 2010.

The finalists presented a variety of ideas which are sure to generate some buzz. Kelsey Foss, a 12-year-old from Mountainville, NY, proposed a new television show, "Stock Market Tycoon Idol," which would harness the popularity of reality TV while amping up the content. The program would involve the journeys of 10 kids as they seek to make money or lose it, with the possibility of becoming virtual millionaires along the way. The show would be set at a mock NYSE studio on Wall Street, and exports would be brought out to mentor the contestants. The reality TV reach would help engage a younger audience.

Continue reading Tomorrow's gurus shine in NYSE Financial Future Challenge

Tomorrow's gurus shine in NYSE Financial Future Challenge originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Before the bell: Investors' caution reigns amid earnings season

Before the bell: Investors' caution reigns amid earnings season originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Before the bell: Investors cautious amid earnings bonanza

Before the bell: Investors cautious amid earnings bonanza originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Oil, the stock market and economic inconsistency

Oil, the stock market and economic inconsistency originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bernard Madoff is a horse thief: Sentencing set for June 29

Bernard Madoff is a horse thief: Sentencing set for June 29 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Investors are expecting Wall Street to continue its recent winning ways.

Stocks are poised to open higher as investors await March retail sales data and the weekly unemployment report. Markets in Europe and Asia were higher.

Retail sales, though weak, may not be as bad as investors had feared. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Wal-Mart Stores and a select group of its discounting peers have helped retail sales exceed modest expectations every month since December, and that streak likely will continue."

Continue reading Before the Bell: Wall Street is on a roll -- for now

Before the Bell: Wall Street is on a roll -- for now originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

DailyFinance today: Pay for failure with CEOs losing billions, an innovative way to stimulate the economy, home loan modifications not helping, and protestors arrested at Wall Street originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I am not often at a loss for words, but when I found out that New York is going to spend our tax dollars to retrain investment bankers for some kind of useful work, I was speechless. In total, New York will spend $45 million in government money to retrain investment bankers, traders and others who have lost jobs on Wall Street, as well as provide seed capital and office space for new businesses those laid-off bankers might create.

This raises so many questions: Why does an unemployed investment banker need any taxpayer money? Don't retired investment bankers already have tens of millions of dollars stored up? What kind of work could an investment banker be trained to do that someone would pay for? And if so, that other job would pay so much less than investment banking why would a former investment banker would take the job?

Continue reading Early April Fools joke? $45 million in taxpayer money to retrain investment bankers

Early April Fools joke? $45 million in taxpayer money to retrain investment bankers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Today's technical outlook: Wall Street fails Geithner's plan

Today's technical outlook: Wall Street fails Geithner's plan originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Remember Wall Street analysts? Those are the people who go on tout TV and tell you to buy stocks regardless of what is happening to stock prices. The reason you should ignore them is that they get paid to make you buy stocks which generates commissions for their employer. If they issue 'sell' recommendations, they will scare people away from the market. And then there won't be any commissions to pay them.

Continue reading Why you should ignore analysts

Why you should ignore analysts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kucinich calls on Citigroup to drop Mets stadium naming rights originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the questions that I spent this week discussing is this: What was Wall Street thinking? Whether it's using taxpayer money to pay itself $18.4 billion in bonuses or to buy a $50 million corporate jet after posting $35 billion in losses, people are wondering whether Wall Street gets it. The answer is yes. Wall Street gets that nobody stopped it from paying bonuses when it took our money, so it took what it could. Unless we limit how Wall Street spends taxpayer money, it will keep paying itself big bonuses.

Wall Street is a place where the people at the top are trained to grab as much as they can out of the hands of the other graspers. At least $200 billion worth of TARP money went to Wall Street with no strings attached. If you put that much money into the hands of a culture that believes firmly in taking what it can get -- it usually pays half of its revenues to employees -- you end up with Wall Street taking as much as it can from the taxpayers.

Continue reading Is there a new reality on Wall Street pay?

Is there a new reality on Wall Street pay? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Wall Street has been strip mining America

Wall Street has been strip mining America originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) may cut 5% of its workforce. Given the drop-off in investment banking activity and asset management, the number may not be high enough, but it is a start. Wall Street is still worried about the bank's future, as its stock price shows. Shares change hands at $21, down more than 50% during that last year. Morgan is doing better than some other companies in its sector, but the deepening recession could hurt earnings more than last year.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription requited), "The New York firm, which let go of about 7,000 employees last year, may decide on another round of staffing cuts in the next two weeks."

Continue reading If Morgan Stanley (MS) cuts jobs, stock may rise

If Morgan Stanley (MS) cuts jobs, stock may rise originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You've asked people to give you ideas, so here's one: Don't recycle Bush's failed ideas and expect them to work. Each of those failed ideas has deep flaws. Instead, if you have to save the banking system -- and I would like to see how things would work if companies and people lived within their means rather than borrowing to pay for things that they can't afford -- then cull and capitalize or create new banks.

Here's what's wrong with the three recycled Bush ideas being floated:

Continue reading Memo to the President: Don't recycle bad bank fix ideas, get new ones that work

Memo to the President: Don't recycle bad bank fix ideas, get new ones that work originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Obama flips out over Wall Street bonuses

Obama flips out over Wall Street bonuses originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just when you think you've heard it all, you hear more. In the last year, Wall Street -- or more specifically, the brokerage units of New York financial companies -- lost $35 billion. (Worldwide, financial institutions have taken $1 trillion in write-offs of bad assets). Those firms received a large proportion of the $350 billion TARP and persuaded the Treasury to guarantee losses from hundreds of billions worth of their financial toxic waste. Their reward? $18.4 billion in bonuses.

How much of the TARP went to paying for those bonuses? The banks have cleverly neglected to report that. But let's face it -- money is fungible. So if they did not use the money from the deposits they received from the Treasury to pay bonuses, our tax dollars freed up cash they may have had from other sources that did go to paying those $18.4 billion in bonuses.

Continue reading Wall Street loses $35 billion in 2008, uses TARP for $18.4 billion bonus

Wall Street loses $35 billion in 2008, uses TARP for $18.4 billion bonus originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

An era of greed that began with the election of Ronald Reagan has come to an abrupt end. That means that the seething emotions of greed and envy that come along with bonus time at investment banks will have fewer dollars attached to them. And talent will flow to government and academia rather than Wall Street. This could be good for the U.S.

Some of those masters of the universe in the investment banking industry have seen the value of their stock tumble (and many of them are going without bonuses this year). Here are some of the "casualties":

Continue reading Masters of the universe take a pay cut

Masters of the universe take a pay cut originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bBACbailoutexecutive compensationexecutive payExecutiveCompensationExecutivePayfeaturedGSjohn thainJohnThainlloyd blankfeinLloydBlankfeinmerrill lynchMerrillLynchvikram panditVikramPanditwall streetWallStreetTue, 27 Jan 2009 11:40:00 ESThttp://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/01/27/whats-your-share-of-the-4-trillion-bailout/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/01/27/whats-your-share-of-the-4-trillion-bailout/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/01/27/whats-your-share-of-the-4-trillion-bailout/#commentsFiled under: Scandals, Recession
Remember when we were up in arms over the $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout of the banking industry?

Those were the days. With the government now mulling the establishment of an "aggregator bank" to buy all the bad assets of all the banks, former International Monetary Fund chief economist Simon Johnson says that the cost of the bailout could be $4 trillion by the time this is done.

Four trillion dollars is a lot of lettuce. To help put it in perspective consider this. As of July of 2008, the CIA estimated the US population at 303,824,640. If the total cost of the bailout comes to $4 trillion, that will work out to a bill of $13,165.49 for every man, woman, child and incarcerated felon in America.

What does it all mean? I'm not really sure. But given that you (more precisely, your great-great-great-great grandchildren) are cutting a check for more than $13,000 to the financial industry, don't you think that we are perhaps entitled to a higher level of customer service? Could they upgrade the quality of the lollipops, perhaps?

What's your share of the $4 trillion bailout? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Bailoutbernankeeconomyfeaturedfederal reserveFederalReservegeithnernasdaqnyseobamastock marketStockMarketthe fedTheFedwall streetWallStreetTue, 27 Jan 2009 09:15:00 ESThttp://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/01/14/analysts-do-not-have-a-clue-about-the-quarter/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/01/14/analysts-do-not-have-a-clue-about-the-quarter/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/01/14/analysts-do-not-have-a-clue-about-the-quarter/#commentsFiled under: Google (GOOG), General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Pfizer (PFE), Wal-Mart (WMT), JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
Wall Street analysts seemed to have thrown up their hands when it comes to fourth quarter earnings. Given the current economic environment, who can blame them?

Earnings estimates are almost useless. They have ranges big enough to drive a truck through. No, make that a train. I mean a tank. Imagine a large mode of transportation and you get the idea. My colleague Douglas McIyntyre recently argued "that has changed so much in the last two quarters that predictions have become hard to make and going into this earnings season the job may become impossible."

Take General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE). The conglomerate, which has been in Wall Street's dog house forever, is expected to post earnings of 52 cents for the fourth quarter. Or, the parent company of NBC might earn 36 cents. Everyone is sure that Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is a basket case but exactly how screwed up the company is a matter of debate. Analysts are forecasting a losses of 47 cents to $1.14 per share.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) could earn anywhere from 18 cents and 33 cents. Analysts' estimates for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) range from a profit of 25 cent to a loss of 20 cents. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), which recently announced it would fire 800 scientists, may earn anywhere between 55 cents and 63 cents.

Continue reading Analysts do not have a clue about the quarter

Analysts do not have a clue about the quarter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Ccorporate earningsCorporateEarningsearningsfeaturedgeJPMPFETWXwall streetwall street analystsWallStreetWallStreetAnalystsWed, 14 Jan 2009 12:46:00 EST