Thursday, July 19, 2012

Big banks plan more job cuts

Welcome to the morning roundup. Here's a look at today's banking and finance news.

Cutbacks. Big banks are preparing to slash thousands of banking and trading jobs, a sign of continued weakness in the banking industry, the Wall Street Journal reports. The news, which includes Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, comes a day after Charlotte-based Bank of America provided new details on the second phase of its wide-ranging efficiency initiative.

Libor. Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among the financial firms that might bring lawsuits against their biggest rivals related to the Libor rate-rigging scandal, Bloomberg reports. One analyst said it could become "a feeding frenzy of sharks."

Earnings. Morgan Stanley turned a profit in the second quarter, but its revenue fell amid pressure facing the financial services sector, the New York Times reports.

Jobless claims. The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits climbed last week after a sharp drop in the previous report, Reuters writes. The level of initial claims was higher than economists expected, signaling that hiring remains weak. Still, stocks rose this morning, largely driven by corporate earnings.

1 comments:

Garth Vader said...

So in 2007 The Fed knew LIBOR was being manipulated by banks. At the time Goldman and MS were securities firms, so they weren't tainted by LIE-BOR.

Then in 2008 Goldman and MS are allowed to convert themselves into bank holding companies, regulated by the Fed rather than the SEC.

Now all the banks that were part of LIE-BOR are under assault. Who benefits? Goldman and MS.

Quite obviously this was all planned. The only remaining mystery is: what will Goldman use to bring down Morgan Stanley?