Government Agencies SEC

  • Stocks closing near highs for the day. The key story: the correlation between a weak euro/weak equities has been broken. There is now a positive correlation between the dollar (up) and the stock market (also up)—what's up with that?

  • Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Robert Cook, director of the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets and Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission participate in a House Financial Services Committee hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

    Regulators examining the causes of the brief stock market free fall last Thursday are looking closely at heavy selling in the market for stock-index futures by a single trader, beginning 10 minutes before stock prices began to plummet. The NYT reports.

  • A day after the exchanges testified in the House of Representatives, exchange officials and lawyers are busy writing new rules. Based on discussions with exchange and government officials, here's a likely timetable:

  • Make this market safe for regular investors again.

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    The autopsy continues on what caused a 1000 point drop in the Dow last Thursday. But with a quick look at the chart, it is obvious to the naked eye that electronic trading was at least partially to blame for the tailspin.

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    Shares of Moody’s fell sharply on Monday after it disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission had warned that it might sue the firm for making “false and misleading” statements as part of its application as a ratings organization.

  • John Alfred Paulson, president of Paulson & Co., Inc.

    John Paulson, who made $15 billion shorting the housing market, told investors in a conference call on Monday that he expects housing prices to rise between 3 percent and 5 percent this year and another 8 to 12 percent in 2011.

  • NYSE Trader

    Investigators seeking an explanation for the brief stock market panic last week said Sunday that they were focusing increasingly on how a controlled slowdown in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, meant to bring about stability, instead set off uncontrolled selling on electronic exchanges. The NYT explains.

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    One of the nation's largest credit rating agencies—which has come under fire for its role in the financial crisis—says it is facing an enforcement action by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • Lloyd Blankfein talked with CNBC about how the firm needs to fill the void between how they see themselves versus how the public sees them.

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    Warren Buffett's high-profile defense of Goldman Sachs has provoked sharp negative reactions this week, but there is also at least one prominent defender. 

  • Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein testifies before a Senate investigative committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 27, 2010.

    As its legal troubles mount, Goldman Sachs is losing a big corporate client: the American International Group. The NYT reports.

  • On Friday in lower Manhattan, the financial giant held its annual shareholder meeting. The question on the table: How will Lloyd Blankfein receive shareholders questions?

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    As the market dropped our team was watching. A car wreck is a much too pleasant analogy. I was at my desk in 1987, 1989, 9/11, 2008, and I’ve never witnessed what I witnessed yesterday.

  • He thinks they’re close. Read on for his two favorites in the group.

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    It’s an open secret on Wall Street that many big banks routinely — and legally — fudge their quarterly books. But now Washington is taking a hard look at a range of maneuvers that help banks dress up their financial statements, and raising some uncomfortable questions about banks’ bookkeeping.

  • Daniel Sparks, former partner and head of the Mortgages Department at the Goldman Sachs Group, Joshua Birnbaum, former managing director of the structured products group trading for The Goldman Sachs Group, Michael Swenson, managing director of structured products group trading for The Goldman Sachs Group and Fabrice Tourre, executive director of the structured products group trading for The Goldman Sachs Group are sworn in while testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Af

    Mr. Buffett understands risk and how markets work. He knows that in the world of buying and selling complex financial instruments, responsibility is a two way street. Caveat emptor.

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    Warren Buffett defended Goldman Sachs as it faces SEC fraud accusations and talked about the signs of "real strength" he's seeing in the U.S. economy during a live interview in Omaha today, May 3, 2010 with Becky Quick on CNBC's Squawk Box.  Here are video clips and a transcript of their conversation.

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    Warren Buffett's strong defense of Goldman Sachs spacer against SEC accusations of fraud dominates the day-after headlines from coverage of this year's Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha.

  • Warren Buffett spoke to reporters Saturday morning in Omaha before his annual meeting with Berkshire Hathaway shareholders

    Warren Buffett tells CNBC that Goldman Sachs "has lost the PR battle at this point" as it responds to SEC accusations, but he does not think the firm has committed fraud.  In a taped interview with Becky Quick ahead of today's Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Buffett says Goldman has suffered because it did not respond quickly enough to the announcement of the SEC's complaint against the firm.  Here's the video and transcript of their conversation.