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The SEC alleges that Citigroup Global Markets structured and marketed a CDO called Class V Funding III and exercised significant influence over the selection of $500 million of the assets included in the CDO portfolio. Citigroup then took a proprietary short position against those mortgage-related assets from which it would profit if the assets declined in value. Citigroup did not disclose to investors its role in the asset selection process or that it took a short position against the assets it helped select. Citigroup has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying a total of $285 million, which will...

Strippers with sob stories or hookers with hearts of gold are often the way that Hollywood glamorizes the career paths of exotic dancers. One combination that you don't hear about often is the stripper turned Wall Street trader. Niki Marx, 27, is that case.

Since the Affordable Health Care Act’s passage, the Obama administration has been a three-record jukebox: “Tax the Rich,” “Save the Unions” and “Green Economy.” The first two selections are broken records, stuck on “Pass this bill now.” The last is just stuck on stupid. Its main defect is the current administration’s methodology. The evidence is the Solyndra scandal.

The European markets are notably lower in afternoon trading Friday, as economic worries continued to haunt markets globally. Yet, some buying was seen in early trade with investors looking to buy shares cheap amid some encouraging remarks from the G20 meeting. Asian markets fell and the U.S. index futures are lower. Finance chiefs of the Group of 20 nations vowed "strong and co-ordinated international response" to tackle the renewed risks facing the global economy and offered to support banks, if required. However, the leaders offered no immediate policy response to the crisis. French market regulator Jean-Pierre Jouyet reportedly said that...

Post stocks which didn't fall dramatically today.... if we were REALLY having a market crash, everything across the board would fall. Example... Auto Zone Inc. (AZO) -- only went down about $6 per share from $322...not much of a crash there...regular fluctuations. Must be hundreds of others just like it. The markets are nothing but pure manipulation.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's tacit acknowledgment that America's economic slowdown is likely to persist for quite a while sent global stock markets skidding Thursday as investors brushed off the central bank's efforts to spur growth and focused instead on its gloomy assessment. Oil tumbled too but the dollar held its own against the euro, which has been weighed down in recent weeks over concerns that Greece might go bankrupt. Hong Kong's Hang Seng led stock markets lower, with a near 5 percent dive.

I am 26 and recently graduated from school. For the past almost 2 years I have been running a 401k with the tiny percentage of money I can afford to put into it with the full expectation that Social Security won't be around when I'm eligible for it, regardless of the fact I've had to pay into it. I find it really scary how many people I know around my age that aren't saving at all. At first my work only offered a regular 401 so I put in slightly above the % for employer matching. Then they offerred a...

Deflation Is Here Graham Summers September 12, 2011 I’ve been warning that the markets were on the verge of another round of Deflation. By the looks of things, it’s here with the US Dollar breaking out of its massive wedge pattern. The ultimate target for this pattern is the mid-80s. So consider this latest breakout the first leg up of a much larger move that will affect all other asset classes in a big way. In order for a move of that caliber to occur in the US Dollar, we’ll need to see a full-scale crisis hit the markets (the...

Futures were lower Friday, after President Barack Obama introduced a $447 billion plan to boost jobs on Thursday but did little to reassure concerns about the tepid economic growth. The jobs plan "will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled and give companies confidence that if they invest and hire, there will be customers for their products and services," Obama said in an address to Congress Thursday evening. However, the bill's chances of passing Congress are uncertain. Republicans control the House and many of them oppose any new spending. The program is a credible attempt to address structural...

U.S. stocks are sharply lower in early trading. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 260 points. All 30 stocks that make up the Dow average fell. The losses come after steep declines in European indexes. The Stoxx 600 Europe index fell 4.1 percent on Monday because of concerns that Europe's debt problems could slow growth around the world. The index fell another 1.4 percent Tuesday. The U.S. economy is also weak. A Tuesday report on the U.S. service sector is expected to show the fourth straight month of declining growth. It follows a jobs report Friday that that...

American Banker’s Kate Berry has a fantastic piece of reporting today, under the headline “Robo-Signing Redux: Servicers Still Fabricating Foreclosure Documents”. Among her discoveries is this document, dated August 3, 2011, wherein Tonya Hopkins signed over a mortgage in her capacity as Assistant Secretary of Sand Canyon Corporation. The problem with this? Sand Canyon hasn’t been in the mortgage business since 2009, and Tonya Hopkins doesn’t work for Sand Canyon: she works for American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc.

Market crash 'could hit within weeks', warn bankers A more severe crash than the one triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers could be on the way, according to alarm signals in the credit markets. The cost of insuring RBS bonds is now higher than before the taxpayer was forced to step in and rescue the bank in October 2008 By Harry Wilson, and Philip Aldrick 9:50PM BST 24 Aug 2011 Insurance on the debt of several major European banks has now hit historic levels, higher even than those recorded during financial crisis caused by the US financial group's implosion...

Gold and US Treasurys trading together illustrate the point that the BIG money has not begun to move and is still parking. Corporations are at record highs with over $2 trillion in cash holdings also parking in Treasurys fearful of investing with the future so uncertain. Those who try to predict the future with fundamentals get their head handed to them without exception because they become fixated largely on a couple of issues that are more often than not too domestic. Lacking worldly experience, they become just deer in headlights. A closing tomorrow on the Dow BELOW 10906 will warn...

NEW YORK -- Turmoil returned to U.S. stock markets at Thursday's open as renewed concerns about the global economy sent major indexes plunging and pushed gold to a new record high. Investors were working through bad news on various fronts, including a dismal forecast from Morgan Stanley for global economic growth, and two U.S. government-issued reports on inflation and the job market.

DOW 10903.70 -506.51 -4.44% S&P 500 1137.74 -56.15 -4.7%

Fears of a global banking crisis swept across markets, driving stocks sharply lower, Treasury yields to record lows, and gold to record highs. The dramatic reflex to run for safety also propped up the U.S. dollar, which was stronger against a whole group of currencies. The yield on the U.S. 10-year note fell below the psychologically key 2 percent level temporarily, a level it has not seen since possibly the Eisenhower era. The Dow tumbled more than 500 points at the day's lows, and the industrial and commodities stocks that rely on global growth fell the hardest. Like an out-of-control...

BAGHDAD -Twin explosions ripped through a crowded Iraqi market in a city southeast of Baghdad, killing 34 people and shattering what had been a relatively peaceful holy month of Ramadan. The blasts in Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, went off as construction workers were gathered in a market selling generators and other appliances. Police spokesman Lt. Col. Dhurgam Mohammed Hassan said the first bomb went off in a freezer used to keep drinks cold. Then as rescuers and onlookers gathered, a parked car bomb exploded. The top medical official in the province where Kut is located, Diaa...

The U.S. dollar may weaken and Treasury yields rise when Asian markets reopen on Monday, though any selling in response to ratings agency S&P's downgrade of the United States is likely to be tempered by the escalating crisis in the euro zone. The S&P cut in the U.S. long-term credit rating by a notch to AA-plus is an unprecedented blow and results from concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden. It called the outlook "negative," signaling another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months. "The initial reaction will be a high degree of uncertainty...

After a number of fake Apple retail stores in China gained publicity online, Apple appears to have taken legal action, undoubtedly looking to shut down the counterfeit locations designed to look like its own operations. Apple has gone on the offensive against a number of defendants, including 50 John Does and unnamed businesses, in a new trademark infringement suit. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York remains under a court seal, so the specifics of the complaint are not known. However, one of the defendants in the case is "Apple Story Inc.," matching...

Well, it's deja vu all over again. But there are also several very important differences between this market crash and the ones a few years ago: The Fed has fired most of its bullets (interest rates are already at zero) Our budget deficit is already out of control, and Congress has had it with "stimulus" The public has had it with bailouts That means the government's ability to do anything about this market crash is severely limited. Yes, we'll almost certainly have a "QE3." And maybe that will prop things up a bit. But it won't fix the fundamental problems...