Banking’s Fantastic Four Grab a Bigger Share of Industry Profits
They’re too big to fail — or even have a bad quarter. Of the roughly 4,400 operating banks in the US, nearly half of all banking profits in the third quarter came from a cadre of just four — JPMorgan,...
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JPMorgan Chase Fuels AI Ambitions With New Patent
JPMorgan Chase wants to make data science more accessible to the tech novice. The company filed a patent application for a system to provide “automated data science as a service.” If JPMorgan clients...
View ArticleESG Funds Shrink for the First Time Ever
After pouring billions into “climate-sustainable” funds, Wall Street is saying nvm to ESG. With interest in environmental, social, and governance factors waning among investors, this year’s third...
View ArticleWall Street is Pricing in Interest Rate Cuts
Wall Street knows that interest rates can’t stay high forever. And, like little kids in the backseat during a long road trip, investors can’t help but keep asking “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?...
View ArticleCigna, Humana Eyeing a Merger
What do you call it when two hulking health insurance companies form a union? Insurance. In a bid to scale up against larger rivals, health insurance players Cigna and Humana are in talks over a...
View ArticleThe FTC Starts Probe of Exxon’s Pioneer Acquisition
Funny how people notice when you do something like announce the biggest oil merger in 20 years. Exxon’s $60 billion planned acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, announced in October, has attracted...
View ArticleThe SEC Probes AI Use at Investment Advisory Firms
In SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s version of The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger is armed with a pitchbook. As the world of high finance ushers in an era of artificial intelligence, the SEC has begun...
View ArticleCigna and Humana Call Off Their Merger
Like celebrity marriages, some company tie-ups aren’t meant to last. Following reports of merger discussions just two weeks ago, health insurance players Humana and Cigna are walking away from what...
View ArticleAfter Stormy Waters, Will Fed Get A Glide Path?
Why it’s still a tightrope-walk to an economic soft landing. Greetings after a rather foamy year in which the S&P 500 ended up 25 percent, flirting with a record high, and the Nasdaq Composite...
View ArticleBlackRock Still Leads US ETF Market, But It’s Losing Ground
When you’re king, everyone comes for your crown, except for on The Crown, where no one, it seems, could be bothered. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has been ceding ground in the US...
View ArticleBanks Have a Lot of Cash But Aren’t Ready to Use It
The Federal Reserve is set to slash interest rates this year, maybe as many as three times, potentially sparking the economy. But that’s assuming gun-shy lenders are going to lend. Too Big to Fail...
View ArticleTwilio CEO Resigns Amid Activist Push
Activist investors have their latest scalp. On Monday, Twilio CEO and co-founder Jeff Lawson said he’d step down following a protracted battle with a pair of persnickety activist investors. Whether...
View ArticleAsset Managers Want Bitcoin ETF Supremacy Even if They Don’t Exist Yet
Wall Street is discounting their chickens before they’re hatched. Even though the SEC has yet to decide whether to permit stock market funds that invest directly in bitcoin, asset managers are...
View ArticleJPMorgan Adds to Space Ambitions with Off-Planet Payments
Even on Mars, you probably can’t escape paying bills. JPMorgan Chase filed a patent application for a system capable of “space-based transactions.” The financial firm essentially aims to allow for...
View ArticleBanks Are Making Hay Out of Post-Banking Crisis Safeguards
In crisis, there’s opportunity. After a federal regulator response to crisis, there’s apparently even more. In the wake of the epic banking implosion last year, the Federal Reserve established an...
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The Folly of Financial Gurus
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and other social-media outlets are teeming with a new breed of financial expert. They tend to offer advice that’s a cross between what you might hear from a financial...
View ArticleChip Designer Synopsys Acquires Ansys For $35 Billion
This is not a simulation. Semiconductor-design software maker Synopsys stepped into the Matrix on Tuesday to acquire Ansys, maker of powerful simulation software used by engineers and manufacturers....
View ArticleTwo US Hedge Funds Racked Up Major Chinese Gains Last Year
American firms in China have seen better days – except maybe these two. Last year, the Chinese operations of both Two Sigma and Bridgewater — two large US-based operations — posted massive gains,...
View ArticleThe King’s Conundrum
If tax havens refuse to change, then what can stop them? The Year of the Dragon is nigh – and, as ever, it signifies imperial power. One modest example: gold-dipped Coronation carriages. But it also...
View ArticleVisa May Use Doppelgangers to Fight Payments Fraud
Visa wants to know from the jump if you’re a big spender (or a hacker). The company wants to patent a method for generating “behavior profiles for new entities.” Visa’s filing details a system which...
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