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Bank of America (BAC)
Bank of America on Monday won approval of a $150 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the Merrill Lynch merger, ending an embarrassing public battle between the largest U.S. bank and the nation's top securities regulator.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Monday approved the settlement but also lamented its deficiencies, calling it "half-baked justice at best."
The settlement ends two lawsuits by the SEC against Bank of America. One alleged that the bank misled shareholders about $3.6 billion of bonuses that Merrill paid out. The other alleged that the bank misled shareholders about Merrill losses, which reached $15.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.
"Its greatest defect is that it advocates very modest punitive, compensatory and remedial measures that are neither directed at the specific individuals responsible for the nondisclosures nor appear likely to have more than a very modest impact on corporate practices or victim compensation," Rakoff wrote. "While better than nothing, this is half-baked justice at best."
Had Rakoff rejected the settlement, a trial over the bonuses would have begun on March 1.
The judge rejected a $33 million accord five months ago.
How cool is U.S. District Judge Rakoff? Not afraid to speak his mind & tell it like it is, "half-baked justice at it's best." Of course he's referring to the battle between the SEC and and BOA over the merger with Merrill. Just 5 months ago Rakoff refused to rubber stamp the paltry sum proposed by BOA and the SEC of $33 million.
Feb 22 · 11:18:00 AM · Source: CNBC
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by Jerry Byrne
Republic Airways (RJET)
Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NSADAQ: RJET) announced it will transition the regional service operated by its Lynx Aviation subsidiaries Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft to Embraer jet service operated by Republic Airlines. Operations at Lynx is expected to be phased out by mid-September 2010. Service will continue to all current Lynx destinations with the exception of Fargo, N.D. and Tulsa, Okla., where the Company will cease operations on April 5.
The transition to jet service will improve the Republic’s ability to operate in highly contested
markets in which the Q400 operates at a competitive disadvantage to jet service offered by
competitors.
Republic Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Wayne Heller. “Unfortunately, after extensive analysis and months of efforts to grow the business, we concluded we could not efficiently operate a fleet of 11 Q400 aircraft. Jet service allows us to better utilize our existing aircraft resources and lower our cost of operating and maintaining multiple fleet types.”
Feb 22 · 9:59:00 AM
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by Steve Wieczorek
Bank of America (BAC)
NEW YORK, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Banking and Markets President Tom Montag today announced that Sam Chapin and Todd Kaplan have been appointed executive vice chairmen of Global Banking, effective immediately. In these roles, Chapin and Kaplan will report to Montag and focus on deepening strategic client relationships and delivering the company's vast global resources on their behalf. Chapin will be based in New York, and Kaplan will be based in Chicago.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090812/CL60095LOGO )
"Sam and Todd are among the most widely respected investment bankers in the industry," said Montag. "Their decisions to rejoin Bank of America Merrill Lynch are a reflection of the tremendous momentum we have achieved as a combined company and global industry leader."
Chapin, a 26-year Merrill Lynch veteran, served as a vice chairman and member of the executive client coverage group from 2003 to 2009, responsible for developing and coordinating senior corporate client relationships around the world. Prior to that, he was head of global investment banking from 2001 to 2003. He joined Merrill Lynch in 1984 as a member of the mergers and acquisitions group and was named a managing director in investment banking in 1993 and a senior vice president of the firm in 2001.
Ok, so is it just me? Is this a case of what’s wrong with this picture? Here you have Todd Kaplan & Sam Chapin, two veteran executives (Kaplan worked there 22 years) of Merrill Lynch, returning to the fold now that times are good (or at least a whole lot better) again. They both left when the bank was in turmoil shortly after the takeover by Bank of America. Kind of like jumping off a sinking ship wouldn’t you say? Now they want back on?
Where is the loyalty? Where is that old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going? Well in this case they got going all right…..right out the front door. How about the guys who stuck around these past 14 months or so, who weathered the bad times, hung in there and stayed loyal to ‘Mother Merrill” as the company was lovingly referred to as for many years. Do you think they are happy to see Kaplan & Chapin return now that Wall St. is back on it’s feet.
Call me old school, but I just don’t think it was the right thing to do bringing them back.
Feb 22 · 9:51:00 AM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Jerry Byrne
Ryanair Holdings plc (RYAAY)
Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) a low-fares, scheduled passenger airline serving short-haul, point-to-point routes in Europe and Morocco, announced the construction of a second heavy maintenance facility at Prestwick Airport, Scotland, according to Business.Scotsman.com. The company will invest £8 million (approximately $12,390,000) building the new hangar to service the airline's fleet of more than 200 aircraft.
The 6,600 sq metre (71,041 sq. ft) three-bay hangar, which will support 200 jobs, is due to open in September 2010.
Feb 22 · 9:13:00 AM · Source: Business.Scotsman.com
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by Steve Wieczorek
Intel (INTC)
Today’s New York Times has a very interesting article “For Chipmakers, the Next Front in a Costly War is in Smartphones,” which makes a case why leading semiconductor manufacturers Intel and GlobalFoundries are poised to take market share in smartphone processors. GlobalFoundries is the manufacturing division that AMD spun out last year, and will do the semiconductor manufacturing for other companies at “what is arguably the most advanced chip factory ever built.” Jim Ballingall, VP for marketing, stated “[t]he first one out there with these types of products [for smartphones] is really the one that wins in the marketplace.”
Regarding Intel, the article is correct that one of that company’s keys to its success has been its manufacturing expertise. While it is very expensive to build semiconductor foundries, doing so enables INTC to manufacture at the leading edge of cost and performance. (According to EETimes, Intel manufactures semiconductors at a line width of 45 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, going to 32 nm. http://www.eetimes.com/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223100024&cid=RSSfeed_eetimes_newsRSS) But it’s worth noting that while INTC has been spectacularly successful making X86 architecture microprocessors, it hasn’t matched that record with chips for other applications. As the article notes, Intel is competing against other companies producing ARM-architecture chips for smartphones, and INTC’s Atom microprocessors “can cost two to three times as much” and “consume too much power for many smaller gadgets.” The other problem for Intel is software—since the ARM is more common, there is more smartphone software written for it.
Regading GlobalFoundries, I disagree with Mr. Ballingall to some extent. While leading edge manufacturers should be able to make chips with the best price/performance, that is not a sufficient condition "to win in the marketplace," or even a necessary one. The chips that win are the ones that power the smartphones that wind up being the most successful in the market, which are chosen by the consumers, wireless carriers and smartphone makers. There are many criteria for getting “designed in,” by the smartphone vendors such as Apple and Nokia, including cost, performance, vendor (including the ARM suppliers), features and architecture. And each time there’s a new smartphone, there is at least the possibility of a new design in process, so no designer or manufacturer of smartphone chips has an ongoing lock.
Feb 22 · 9:13:00 AM · Source: The New York Times
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by Stuart Skalka
JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU)
JetBlue Airways Looses Appeal Over Age Gender Retaliation Claim. On Friday the U.S. Court Of Appeals For The Second Circuit ruled in favor of Diane Gorzynski, a former customer service supervisor with JetBlue who accused the airline of age and gender bias, creating a hostile work environment, and firing her in retaliation for complaining back in 2002, according to AvStop.com.
The U.S. Court Of Appeals For The Second Circuit stated that Gorzynski had produced ample evidence of mistreatment based on claims that she suffered a hostile work environment, age discrimination, and retaliation for complaints of race and age discrimination.
Feb 22 · 8:44:00 AM · Source: AvStop.com
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by Steve Wieczorek
Interest Rates
The Fed said late Thursday it is raising its discount rate by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points, to 0.75%. The central bank said in a statement it made the move in response to improving financial market conditions.
Ben Bernanke's Fed is taking a small step toward normal policy.
The move is largely symbolic, because banks do little borrowing at the discount window.
The unanimous decision to boost the discount rate also has no effect on the more widely watched federal funds rate, which measures the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans. That rate is expected to remain between 0% and 0.25% for the foreseeable future, given the slack in the labor market and the still fragile state of the economy.
Feb 19 · 11:05:00 PM · Source: CNN Money
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by Michael Oliveto
Sysco (SYY)
Sysco Corporation announced today that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on April 23, 2010, to common shareholders of record at the close of business on April 1, 2010.
At today's stock price of $29.12, Sysco currently yields 3.43%.
Feb 19 · 3:33:00 PM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Rich Pike
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