There have been various developments over the past several weeks which investors may consider relevant in allocating their resources or evaluating alternatives that are available to them. Some of the more significant developments include, but are not limited to, the following: On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 32 points. On Tuesday, the Dow […]
There have been various developments over the past several weeks which investors may consider relevant in allocating their resources or evaluating alternatives that are available to them. Some of the more significant developments include, but are not limited to, the following: On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 73 points. On Tuesday, the […]
Yesterday the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced auction-rate securities settlements with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Comerica Securities, First Southwest, and WaMu Investments, Inc.
Two noted money market funds, Reserve Primary Fund and Reserve International Liquidity Fund LTD, managed by Reserve Management Corporation, have “broken the buck.” “Breaking the buck” means that investors in a money market fund lose their invested principal. Stated another way, the net asset value of money market fund falls below the $1/share price paid […]
There will be some scary times for Wall Street firms in the months ahead according to Business Week writers David Henry’s and Mathew Goldstein’s September 8, 2008 article “More Trash Than Cash.” The writers portray a scenario that could result in tremendous chaos for both Wall Street firms and the capital markets. Christopher Whalen of […]
In a recent SEC filing, SunTrust Banks announced that it was in talks with regulators in an effort to settle regulatory investigations regarding the firm’s auction-rate securities activities. Regulators have been investigating SunTrust regarding its sales practices in selling auction-rate securities and the adequacy of disclosures it made concerning these instruments.
While regulators have announced tentative settlements with major Wall Street firms (Merrill Lynch, UBS, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank) that underwrote auction-rate securities, these settlements have not addressed the situation of thousands of investors that purchased auction-rate securities through smaller brokerage firms. Most of these smaller brokerage firms were […]
Today New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo urged JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Securities to take immediate steps to settle their auction-rate securities problems. According to reports, Cuomo’s office has sent a letter to each of these firms strongly suggesting that they enter into settlements with regulators resolving their auction-rate securities problems on […]
The subprime and credit crises have resulted in a surge of fraudulent misrepresentation and omission cases against Wall Street firms. A rising stock market concealed many such abuses because values were rising, making fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions hard to identify. Recently, however, many of these misrepresentations and omissions have become apparent. For example, many risk-averse […]
Many auction rate securities investors are asking whether they should sell their illiquid holdings or should wait in hopes of their auction rate securities being refinanced or redeemed. Unfortunately, there is no one answer that is right for every investor. This article attempts to discuss various factors that investors may wish to consider in making […]
