European Banks, More Billion Dollar Fines and Penalties For Practices That Have Been Going On Forever!!!

 You ever live in a rural town or hamlet  where everybody knows  each other?  Well every day you drive on the same local  road, speeding   20 mph above the speed  limit, while the "local friendly  cop"  tips his cap  to you. Then out  of nowher, one day  a  new cop is hired. You're pulled over, pot is found in your car  and your  perfect little world is no more.
 That seems to me to be  what exactly has  happened  on Wall Street !  Big multi-national  banks, investment banking houses and   hedge funds who have been  behaving in a certain way for decades(if not centuries) are now getting prosecuted, indicted, fined, penalized and crucified  for activity they previously had been given  a pass on.  Paying billion dollar fines/penalties has become the norm...Their get out of jail free cards if you will.
   So don't  ever , ever feel sorry for these "financial  institutions ". When you play with fire, you will get burned....
    Steve  "Adam Smith"  Goldman reporting .

Wild Gains in the Market Yesterday.....All it Takes is a Little Good News!

Wowee! I check in yesterday at about 10:00 to see what's up with the market. Lo and behold the Dow is up 400 points . I thought it was a mistake . As we learned, proposed actions by the Central Banks fueled the craze. Hey, in this volatile economic atmosphere it only takes a little good news to get investors heart's collectively pumping.
The Dow held strong the rest of the day and even climbed over 12,000. Lots of drinks were being hoisted last night....and rightfully so.
The concern as always , is that one little blip of bad news coming out of Europe can wipe out all the gains in one fell swoop.
Hey, another day of stress and prayer on Wall Street today . Can we, maybe, could we...[nah] possibly get back to 13,000?
Reporting, market analyst Steve Goldman.

Wall Street; Hey Investors Don't Panic, Your Actions Will Dictate Prices/Indexes.

Yesterday was a brutal day in the market. Fears that we're sinking further into a recession as usual fueled a "sell-off " worldwide . Lo and behold, the market fu__in tanked! Haven't stock market inestors (players ) learned after all these years ? Guess not.
Well guys(and gals) wake up! The stock market is like " an animal sensing fear in you"...If they see you're scared they might attack. Well, once the market senses investor concern, fear then panic and sell off , there is nothing really (practically) that can be done to stop the "free-fall". The day (2 days or a week) has to run it's course. Investors then have to lick their wounds, and decide if they have the stomach to stay in the market.
Like today; things quieted down after yesterday and as of 10:05 today the market is down a few points. No magical formula. Maybe just a more pragmatic approach to things today.
So ask yourself,"should I stay or should I go now?If you say that you are mine...."
Good luck!

Arbitrators are getting Smart; Watch out Wall Street !

Smith Barney, a division of Citigroup just took an arbitration award "on the chin "to the tune of $54.1 million, including $17 million in punitive damages. The decision[award] was notable for several reasons. First, the investors were wealthy and assumed to be sophisticated. Secondly, the arbitrator rejected " the old you were warned in the prospectus defense". Lastly, the investment "which went south " , on it's face appeared to be a very conservative investment.
Maybe, this will be a major chink in the armor of "wall street's excessive fees, churning, conflicts of interest and we get rich and the customer gets fuc__d mode of operation.
Interesting, apparently the attorney out of Beverly Hills who represented plaintiffs has won 16 straight! More to come.
Your thoughts?