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Following the financial crisis, Congress passed Dodd-Frank. The legislation authorized the Securities Exchange Commission to enact rules for a “fiduciary duty standard” in which stock brokers, at firms like Merrill Lynch and UBS, would be required to put the customer’s interest first. This fiduciary standard stands in sharp contrast with […]
Puerto Rico’s debt is becoming overwhelming to service. A restructuring appears to be inevitable and this will spell disaster for Mom and Pop investors who own the Commonwealth’s bonds. There are pervasive fears across the municipal bond market that a wide array of Puerto Rico bonds could be restructured in […]
Investors looking for calm waters in 2015 will have to give up that New Year’s wish. Two so called “black swans” are officially on the pond and shaking markets. One is the Swiss franc’s abrupt move last week; the other is the ongoing collapse of oil prices. Remember, black swans […]
Wall Street and its high-priced lobbyists are doing a full-scale beat down on Dodd-Frank. Following the Republican victory in the mid-term elections and a presidential election in 2016, Wall Street believes that it can take its best shot to gut investor protection as the Republican majority in Congress pushes its […]
Ordinary retail investors, the Moms and Pops of the world, saw mixed results in 2014, with stocks erupting in volatility over specific news events such as the Ebola outbreak. And this year is already off to a bumpy, volatile start. The Dow dropped 1.9% on Monday as financial markets plunged […]
Three separate incidents last week involving the securities industry highlighted the disregard our country’s institutions have for the average American investor. Taken together, the events, a court ruling involving insider trading, a fine over investment bank misconduct and the roll back of laws made after the financial crisis to limit […]
For years, Puerto Rico’s economy has been hurtling headlong for the brink. Regular readers of this blog well know of Puerto Rico’s financial woes. Its exploding $70 billion municipal debt and difficulty raising funds through bond offerings have led to forecasts of economic doom, including bond defaults or restructuring. Such […]
While consumers and the media seem euphoric over falling oil and gasoline prices, the crash in the oil market is a true cause for concern for America’s already beleaguered investing public. The implications of falling oil – down 30% since June – is far reaching, both nationally and overseas. Wall […]
Wall Street banks, which never stopped raking in money despite their key role in causing the 2008 global financial collapse, are at it again. The latest round of big bank hijinks are hurting the American consumer where it hurts, right in their pocketbooks. Big Wall Street banks are manipulating the […]
A showdown is coming between the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – FINRA – and the securities Industry lobbyists, namely the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association – SIFMA – over increasing investor protection. The industry’s self-regulator, FINRA is often maligned as being too soft on the securities industry. It’s funded […]