Wall $treet Folly

Check mate: Wall Street trader's $100K 'no drugs, strippers, hookers' "promise" to ex-girlfriend bites him in the wallet

Greg Calvino, a 45 year old trader formerly with RBC (and now with Thomas Weisel) is fighting with his ex-girlfriend, Elisa Kwon, in court over a $100,000 check he wrote to her early in their relationship that she cashed because she says he broke a no drugs, strippers and hookers promise that he made to her. She says that he agreed that she could cash the check if he misbehaved.  He filed suit in July alleging extortion, looking to get  his money back along with interest and damages.  He claims to have written the large check to protect his career and reputation, and that she cashed it for no reason. But according to Kwon there are instant messages where Calvino admitted to going to Flashdancers and he failed a drugstore drug test showing that he partook of the white stuff:

Has hell frozen over??? Goldman Sachs turns bearish

Perenially bullish economists at Goldman Sachs have turned bearish;  Their just released gloom and doom report warns of the likelihood of a Japanese recession and increasing risks that the U.S. real estate slump could spread internationally.:

In a new report, "The Global Economy Hits a Crunch", the US investment bank said it was no longer sure that Asia and Europe would be able to pick up the growth baton as America stumbled. It fears that turmoil is spreading beyond the debt markets to the factory floor.

"Much has changed since mid-July, when we wrote that 'the global economy continues to enjoy one of the strongest sustained expansion in modern history'. The mood in financial markets is clearly darker, and the economic data in the developed world is showing signs of wear," it said.   

Today at Northern Rock

It's getting hotter at Northern Rock.  They've taken down another £5bn from the BOE now with close to £8bn of debt.  Meanwhile, Northern Rock debt holders are none too pleased with the proceedings and have called in the lawyers and financial restructuring specialist Houlihan Lokey to prepare for the inevitable big fight over assets.  To make matters worse, ordinary shareholders who were already pissed off enough over the catastrophic plunge in the price of their shares and the cancellation of their stock dividend are now up in arms over the disclosure that the preference shareholders were paid their dividend last Friday.  And the books were thrown open to the folks at JC Flowers (who must have time on their hands right now while they're awaiting more Sallie Mae negotiations after they said they wouldn't close the deal on its original terms).

WSF Headline Roundup - 9/28/07

• The bottom line games banks play showing profits on the falling value of     their own debt
• Bear returns to the public debt market, selling $2.5 billion in notes
• The last remaning Basis Capital fund  is on the brink, down 50% and     has halted redemptions
• M&A deals fall 42% in the quarter
• Intel Chairman warns that US healthcare system is imperiling jobs here in     favor of low-cost countries
• Senate looking at Google Doubleclick deal
• 3Com finally attracts a buyer; Bain and Huawei said to be acquiring them for $5.30/SH
  
• Another suitor emerges for Ford's Jaguar:  Terra Firma enters the     fray joining Cerberus, TPG, Apollo and others

"The only thing I have is my authenticity": Follically challenged Jim Cramer won't do wigs, transplants, or dye his hair

Some hair raising comments from "Mad Money"'s Jim Cramer at a party thrown in his honor by Gotham Magazine. When asked if he'd ever wear a hair piece he said:

"I would rather blow my head off . . . Never, ever, ever . . . They are phony. They are horrible. Same with hair transplants. I like cornrows when they are in an Iowa field . . . I would never even dye my hair. The only thing I have is my authenticity. No, no, no!"

Hopefully he feels the same about the dreaded comb over.

We suspect that Cramer was talking about the neat but telltale rows of hair shrubs when he referred to cornrows.  But we got to wondering what Jimbo would look like with real cornrows.  So here he is, compliments of Photoshop and David Beckham.

Too Much Gin - NY Post Page Six

Alan Greenspan's new book is flying off the shelves

All of those hours spent shriveling up like a prune in the bathtub where he's said to have penned most of his new tome seem to have paid off: Alan Greenspan's  "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.", is flying off of bookshelves. 

The book sold 129,000 copies in its first week on bookstore shelves, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks an estimated 75% of retail book sales in the U.S. While that is far short of first-week sales of the memoir of another high-profile Washington figure, former President Bill Clinton -- whose "My Life" sold 606,000 copies in its first week in June 2004, according to BookScan -- it is still strong enough to put the book on top of best-seller lists for both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble's hardcover nonfiction.

Greenspan's Memoir Racks Up Sales - Wall Street Journal

 

SEC probe: Were rating agencies "unduly influenced" to provide high sub-prime debt ratings?

Did banks and other debt issuers pressure rating agencies to give sub-prime  bonds higher ratings than they deserved?  The SEC aims to find out:

The SEC, led by chairman Christopher Cox, revealed it is looking in to whether agencies such as Moody's and Standard & Poor's were "unduly influenced" by banks who paid for credit ratings.

The revelation by Mr Cox during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee is the clearest indication to date that regulators believe sub-prime mortgage bonds were unduly inflated in return for payment.

The news will send shivers among both the banking and ratings fraternity, as the SEC is all-powerful in the world of securities regulation, and will come down hard on any institutions found to have broken the rules.

SEC to investigate ratings agencies - Daily Telegraph

Yale's endowment up a stellar 28%

Yale's endowment had another amazing year.  Led by Dave Swensen, the fund was up 28%, making it again the best performer of the endowments.  Over the last 20 years the fund has racked up an enviable 15.6% pa return.... 

After factoring in the university's   annual distributions and new donations to the school, the endowment's size   increased to $22.5 billion from $18 billion during the previous fiscal year.   It is the second largest in the nation behind Harvard University's $34.9   billion endowment.
 
  Yale's 28% return easily exceeded the 17.5% average for foundations and   endowments over the period and beat all other endowments with at least $1   billion in assets that have reported year-end results so far, according to the   Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service.
 
  University officials declined to specify which assets it held or which ones   performed the best. But industry observers said that the endowment, under its   longtime chief investment officer, David Swensen, is a proponent of   commodities and alternative investments, such as private-equity and hedge   funds.

WSF Headline Roundup - 9/27/07 - KKR selling 2X as much FDC loans as expected; RBS raises ABN $$$; Nasdaq & Dubai control 47.6% of OMX; Fremont General investor reneges; Google European hiring binge; Tire kicking at GM; Children's Place CEO fired

News of a possible Buffett stake in Bear Stearns had most of the brokers rocking

A news story published earlier today  by the New York Times claimed that Warren Buffett and several others wiere in "serious talks" with Bear Stearns (BSC) over the possibility of taking an up to 20% stake in the company.  That not only had the Bear's stock rocking and rolling, but many of the other brokers went along for the ride. There was ample skepticism that The Oracle would bite, given his past experiences with Salomon Brothers. Although Warren does of course share a love of bridge with Bear CEO Jimmy Cayne.

Did we happen to mention before how we LOVE volatility?

Here's what the chart action looked like: