Business

Wells Fargo Becomes First Major U.S. Financial Institution to Enable Customers to Connect to Accounts with Text Banking, Without a Need to Have a Personal Computer or An Enrollment in Online Banking

25-Year Industry Veteran Will Join Company’s Food and Agribusiness Team

If you’re on the job hunt, your résumé is of primary importance right now. But with so many others in the same boat -- more than six job seekers per opening -- that’s a tough proposition.

The market was trading up and down for a decent part of the day, but eventually buyers went home a bit early and sellers took advantage to push us down across all the averages. Volume was lower than we have been seeing, with 4.09 Billion shares traded on the NYSE and 2 Billion shares changing [...]

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) are trading more than 3% down today, which has hurt Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares(ETF) (NYSE: FAS). FAS dropped 4.4% so far and has a volume of 28.77M traded shares.

Market Vectors Gold Miners (ETF) (NYSE: GDX) lost 3.4% as Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE: ABX) and Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) fell 3.35% and 3.85% respectively.

ProShares Ultra Real Estate (ETF) (NYSE: URE) is trading 3.5% down on the weakness of Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE: SPG) and HCP, Inc. (NYSE: HCP). SPG fell 3.2% and HC dropped 1.9%.

Trina Solar Limited (ADR) (NYSE: TSL) and First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) fell today and pulled down with them Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index (ETF) (NYSE: TAN). TSL dropped 3.6%, FSLR declined 2.63% and TAN fell 3.61%.

STREET MOVES: Adviser Movement From Major Brokerages Slows

The phenomenon of poaching talent from competitor companies seems to be making a comeback. Some firms are taking up the opportunity to hire employees from companies who are still recovering from the global recession. These firms are hiring star performers, who are frustrated with their company’s ongoing recessionary compensation policies.

This sort of poaching is largely seen in the financial services sector. However, other sectors like technology, entertainment and marketing are not far behind. Public firms are undergoing a lot of scrutiny on their compensation packages and policy and hence the employees feel frustrated to work at lower salaries. It has thus become easy for private companies to hire these frustrated employees, as these companies still enjoy the freedom of designing their own compensation packages, without government or any other external interference.

Robert W. Baird & Co., a small Milwaukee-based investment bank, hired 70 executives for posts ranging from the director to senior vice president level during 2009, many from rivals. Another example is that of Baird. Baird lured an executive from Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) as it could provide a lot of independence to this experienced executive. Baird also hired an executive from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to be the CEO of its biggest business, private wealth management.

If we look at another sector, the story is similar. Ashley Morris, chief executive of Capriotti's Sandwich Shop Inc, has hired Patrick Walls as the new chief operating officer. Patrick Walls was a chief franchise officer and 12-year veteran of McAlister’s Deli, which has 290 restaurants in the U.S. He was attracted by the work independence and growth opportunities provided at Capriotti.

Capriotti is growing with more than 50 company-owned and franchise locations in eight states across the U.S. However, such poaching has triggered the legal nerve. Many companies, during the recession, had made their employees sign non compete agreements, which legally bars the employees from switching to other companies.

To give an example, last year, investment bank UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) sued rival Jefferies & Co, (NYSE: JEF), accusing it to have poached three dozen members from its global health-care investment banking arm. UBS also sued Benjamin Lorello, former head of UBS's health-care group, and former UBS managing director Sage Kelly, accusing them of breaking their employment contracts. UBS has received settlements against this and the case has been resolved now.

New York, February 8th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stocks fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing below the psychological level of 10,000. Concern that the deteriorating European government deficits will derail economic growth overshadowed good corporate earnings and analysts’ upgrades. Financials and com. Read More --

Last week, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BNI). Following this announcement, rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) stripped the company of its AAA ratings. S&P downgraded the rating to AA+ from AAA, citing concerns that the $8 billion issue of debt will strain the Berkshire’s capital adequacy. The rating was placed on credit watch last November when the ...

Last week, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) announced the issue of $8 billion notes in connection with the previously announced acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, or BNSF (BNI). Following this announcement, rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) stripped the company of its AAA ratings.[More...]

The Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio has been off to a strong start in 2010. As of the market close on January 29, 2010, the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio was up 1.38% for the month versus a negative 4.57% return for the S&P 500 over the same period of time. As you might recall, the Fat [...]

Today’s tickers: EWZ, CVX, WFC, GFI, SU, MA, ZION, DAL, AMAG & JWN

EWZ – iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF – An iron condor options strategy employed in the February contract on the EWZ implies one investor expects the underlying share price of the fund to stagnate ahead of expiration in two weeks. Shares of the exchange-traded fund, which generally correspond to the price and performance of publicly traded securities in the Brazilian market, are down 5% today to $64.37. Today’s decline merely adds salt to the wounds – The Brazil index ETF has taken a severe beating in the past few months, falling 20.5% since attaining a 52-week high of $80.93 back on December 3, 2009. The iron condor, a strategy utilized by option traders anticipating little movement in the underlying share price, is perhaps one investor’s way of indicating the worst is over and a bottom is close at hand. The iron condor’s construction is essentially the combination of two strangles, or alternatively can be thought of as two credit spreads. On the call side, the investor pockets a net credit of $0.09 per contract by selling 10,000 calls at the February $71 strike for $0.13 apiece, spread against the purchase of 10,000 calls at the higher February $74 strike for $0.04 each. As for the puts, the trader receives a net credit of $0.26 per contract on the sale of 10,000 puts at the February $59 strike for $0.44 each, marked against the purchase of 10,000 puts at the lower February $56 strike for $0.18 apiece. Therefore, the combined credit enjoyed on the iron condor amounts to $0.35 per contract. Maximum retention of the $0.35 credit, or total monetary profits of $350,000, is contingent upon the underlying share price at expiration. EWZ shares must trade within a range of $59.00 to $71.00 in order for the investor to walk away with maximum profits. The investor holding the iron condor is exposed to significant losses if his ‘neutral’ prediction is wrong. Maximum loss potential on the transaction of $2.65 per contract is far greater than the $0.35 credit received for undertaking such risk. But, apparently this trader is confident that shares of the underlying stock will move sideways – at least through February expiration. Perhaps this confidence stems from the fact that losses do not amass to the upside unless shares rebound 10.85% to surpass the upper breakeven price of…

Tammy DeRosier and Sue Morrison Talk About The January Barometer

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street