FURTHER FURTHER READING
- Why Jamie Dimon remains both chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan: because he makes money, and because he makes money. (But is that a chairman’s job?)
- No more economist superstars?
- Watch what they do, not what they say, Dodd-Frank lobbying edition.
- The FT’s Kara Scannell looks at the US Attorney’s Office for SDNY.
- It’s not a bubble, but it is a resented boom.
- Although “the foolish do the best in a strong market“.
- Pettis redux: “either Germany rebalances or Europe breaks apart”.
- A rather cheery take on Tesla.
- The amazingly fraught state of Chinese trade arbitration.
RECAP
Fresh closing all-time high of 1,669.17 for the S&P 500, the day before Ben Bernanke heads to Congress to explain when the Fed might being tapering QE (Bloomberg, Financial Times).
“We don’t depend on tax gimmicks,” Tim Cook told US senators investigating Apple’s use of offshore loopholes. Apple’s chief executive used his appearance before the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations to call for wider US corporate tax reform, even if it led to the company paying higher taxes (Financial Times). Senator Carl Levin took Apple to task over its use of Irish subsidiaries, which did “real harm” to the US economy by allowing the company to avoid $9bn in US taxes last year, he said. “You shifted the golden goose to Ireland,” Mr Levin added (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal).
JPMorgan shareholders voted to back Jamie Dimon as dual chairman and chief executive with a greater margin than last year. Some 32.2 per cent voted to divide the roles at this year’s annual meeting, compared to 40 per cent in 2012 (Bloomberg). Investors nevertheless made an unusually large protest vote against three directors of the board. Ellen Futter, a member of the risk committee which attracted criticism over JPMorgan’s ‘London Whale’ trading losses, scraped through with 53 per cent (Financial Times).
Temasek took a 10 per cent stake in Markit, an investment valuing the financial data provider at $5bn (Financial Times).
Fannie Mae plans to sell $2bn of 2006 and 2007 CMBS to clear its balance sheet of illiquid assets, possibly followed by similar offerings in the coming months (Bloomberg).
Microsoft unveiled its latest Xbox console. Scheduled to launch in stores “later this year,” the Xbox One will feature live TV as well as games, as part of Microsoft’s war to win control of the living room from smart TVs and set-top boxes (Wall Street Journal).