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Hedge fund manager charged with insider trading

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:26:17 +0000

NEW YORK |
Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:56pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A California hedge fund manager was charged on Friday with making $900,000 illegally on inside information about three technology companies, the latest strand of the high-profile Galleon Group prosecutions against money managers and traders.

Doug Whitman of Whitman Capital was accused of gleaning secrets about Google Inc and Polycom Inc from trader Roomy Khan, a one-time associate of Raj Rajaratnam, the Galleon hedge fund founder. Rajaratnam was convicted in a high-profile trial last May.

Investigators said Whitman also received inside information on Marvell Technology Group Ltd from Karl Motey, a trader and independent researcher who has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge and is awaiting sentencing. The

Anxiety over incomes hits consumer morale

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:26:06 +0000

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON |
Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:52pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans felt worse about their personal finances in early February, but rising confidence in the labor market’s prospects should help to support spending and the broader economy.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan overall index of consumer sentiment fell to 72.5 in early February, data showed on Friday, from 75.0 in January. It was the first drop in six months and reflected households’ anxiety over their finances.

The ebb in morale comes despite the recent run of relatively strong data, including solid job growth and manufacturing activity.

“While there is plenty of positive momentum in the economy there is still plenty to worry about,” said Lindsey Piegza, an economist at FTN

Greek cabinet approves EU/IMF bailout bill

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:25:50 +0000

By Lefteris Papadimas and Harry Papachristou

ATHENS |
Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:47pm EST

ATHENS (Reuters) – The Greek cabinet approved a draft bill spelling out reforms required by the EU and the IMF on Friday, taking Athens closer to getting a new 130 billion-euro bailout after the prime minister warned the alternative was “catastrophe.”

All eyes will now be on parliament, which is scheduled to vote on the bill on Sunday. Analysts expect the deeply unpopular package to be adopted but Greek politics remain highly unstable.

Even after this is done, the EU also wants a further 325 million euros of spending cuts and clear commitments by main party leaders that the reforms will be implemented before it agrees to release the aid.

Technocrat

S&P suffers year’s biggest loss as Greek deal falters

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:25:31 +0000

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK |
Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:45pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The SP 500 posted its biggest daily percentage decline thus far in 2012 on Friday after an about-face on Greece’s long-awaited debt deal ended a five-week streak of gains for equities.

All but one of the 30 Dow components ended lower while all 10 SP sectors fell, with cyclical sectors such as energy, financials and materials the biggest losers.

The CBOE Volatility index .VIX, often referred to as Wall Street’s “fear index,” jumped 11.6 percent, its biggest percentage rise in three months.

Investors have anxiously awaited a bailout package for Greece so the country might avoid a messy default.

An agreement finally came this week but almost immediately ran

Greece must back bailout or face catastrophe: Papademos

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:22:01 +0000

By Harry Papachristou and Dina Kyriakidou

ATHENS |
Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:34pm EST

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told his turbulent coalition government on Friday to accept a harsh international bailout deal or condemn the nation to catastrophe.

“We cannot allow Greece to go bankrupt,” he told a cabinet meeting. “Our priority is to do whatever it takes to approve the new economic program and proceed with the new loan agreement.”

Papademos, the sole technocrat in a coalition of feuding politicians, tried to assert his authority after six cabinet members resigned over EU and IMF demands for yet more pay, pension and job cuts in return for the financial rescue.

“It goes without saying that whoever disagrees and does not

Citi Report: Firms’ Profits Grew 3.3 Percent in 2011

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:20:45 +0000

February 10, 2012 1:01 PM

Citi Report: Firms’ Profits Grew 3.3 Percent in 2011

Posted by Ed Shanahan

By Dan DiPietro and Gretta Rusanow

For law firms, 2011 was a tale of two years. The strong demand momentum coming into 2011, which continued through the first six months, caused many law firm leaders to believe that a degree of certainty had been attained. The second half of the year was a rude awakening as demand, particularly in transactional work, withered away and has yet to bloom again.

So, while revenue growth in 2011 exceeded the prior year, even greater expense growth squeezed margins and resulted in a PPEP (profits per equity partner) increase of just 3.3 percent vs. 7.4 percent in 2010. In 2010, the industry was rebounding from a weak 2009 which made higher year-over-year increases easier to attainâ€”not so in 2011.

Revenue growth of 4.1 percent in

Am Law Lawyers Added to LGBT Bar Association Board

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:20:43 +0000

February 10, 2012 3:37 PM

Am Law Lawyers Added to LGBT Bar Association Board

Posted by Tom Huddleston Jr.

When the National Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) announced the latest appointments to its board of directors this week, six lawyers from Am Law 100 firms were among those claiming spots on the American Bar Association affiliate’s leadership panel.

The appointments included the elevation of current board member Jason Gibson (left), a Holland Knight associate, to the post of president-elect. Gibson will hold the title for a year before beginning his one-year term as board president next February.

The new LGBT board members with Am Law ties include Winston Strawn litigation partner Nicole Dogwill, who takes over as treasurer and Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart Sullivan litigation associate

Read More from the Article Source: http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2012/02/lgbt-bar-assoc-board.html

The Global Lawyer: Global Class Actions After Morrison

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:20:39 +0000

February 10, 2012 4:03 PM

The Global Lawyer: Global Class Actions After Morrison

Posted by Michael D. Goldhaber

Two weeks ago I reviewed the wide impact of Morrison v. National Australia Bank in the U.S. federal courts, and the limited prospects for state law workarounds. The Global Lawyer today examines the prospects for Morrison suits abroad, as well as a treaty that might govern them.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2010 decision broadly bars plaintiffs from bringing class actions under U.S. law based on securities traded outside the U.S. Naturally, plaintiffs lawyers would now like to bring such suits under non-U.S. law. And their first choice would be to bring them under non-U.S. law in U.S. courts. This argument was astutely anticipated in the essay “After Morrison” by Shearman Sterling’s Emmanuel Gaillard. But it has quickly

Massachusetts subpoenas Bank of America documents

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:26:03 +0000

BOSTON |
Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:42pm EST

BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts securities regulators said on Friday that they were subpoenaing Bank of America for documents to determine if the lender knowingly overvalued assets in certain investment products.

Local investors lost about $150 million in investment vehicles structured by Banc of America Securities LLC, said William Galvin, the state’s top securities regulator.

Now his office is asking the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank to supply documents for its activities involving collateralized loan obligations.

The CLOs include LCM VII Ltd and Bryn Mawr CLO II Ltd, which were structured by the bank and sold to investors in 2007.

Galvin, who has been especially aggressive in looking into how big banks hurt small investors during the housing crisis and

Anxiety over incomes hits consumer morale

Editor - Business News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:25:51 +0000

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON |
Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:10pm EST

The ebb in morale comes despite the recent run of relatively strong data, including solid job growth and manufacturing activity.

“While there is plenty of positive momentum in the economy there is still plenty to worry about,” said Lindsey Piegza, an economist at FTN