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• Wednesday, 19 June 2013

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• Call for Break-Up of Big Banks - 26 July 2012

While Sandy Weill's new take on big banking is a striking U-turn from his previous position, analysts point out that his acknowledgement that scrapping the Glass-Steagull separation of investment and commercial banking was a mistake, simply confirms what markets currently think. As one of the architects of the 1998 Citicorp and Travelers Group merger - essentially creating a financial supermarket to meet all banking needs - by the year 2002 Weill featured in Elliot Spitzer's investigation into Wall Street which garnered the New York State attorney general the nick-name 'Sheriff of Wall Street'. Weill also featured on Time Magazine's list of '25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis' as the Wall Street player who decided that banks should "be all things to all customers", creating Citigroup to fulfill his vision.

• Benchmark Interest Rate Under Scrutiny - 20 July 2012

While the recent Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) scandal, resulting in a record £290-million fine being imposed on Barclays Plc and the ousting of CEO Robert Diamond, was initially viewed as a revelation, analysts have pointed out that concerns about possible interest rate manipulation were being voiced by a number of parties back in the first quarter of 2008. In March of that year the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) signaled that the benchmark for worldwide short term interest rates was being misstated. In April Citigroup analysts raised similar concerns, and the following month a strategist in Barclay’s employ made it known that the numbers being reported by banks was inaccurate, and yet, it appears that no action was taken at the time.

• Fed Minutes, China Slowdown, Europe Crisis Impact on Wall Street - 12 July 2012

Wall Street responded to the Federal Reserve minutes released on Wednesday afternoon with a significant slump, managing to recover to some extent and ending the day with only slight losses. Among other issues, the Federal Reserve identified a number of threats to the recovery of the US economy, with the slowdown in China and an upcoming budget crunch in Washington being cited as two examples. Most notable is that the Fed gave no indication of new strategies for stimulating the economy, as investors were hoping they would. The Dow responded to the release of the Fed's minutes at 2pm by dropping 118 points as investors digested the news, managing a recovery in the hour before the closing bell. The Dow ended the day 48.59 points down, the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 0.02 of a point and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 14.35 points – the fifth consecutive day stocks have closed lower on Wall Street.