Category: Preliminary Analytics

• How to Audit-Proof Your Tax Return: Don’t e-File – Those IRS reviewers aren’t too keen on looking at numbers on paper. [TaxProf Blog]
• Unemployment in U.S. Jumps to 10.2%, Payrolls Fall by 190,000 – Double digits for the first time since ’83 [Bloomberg]
• AIG posts second consecutive quarterly profit – $455 million is not going to cut it. Step it up AIG. [Reuters]
• Inside-Trade Probe Snares ‘Octopussy’ – Whew. Without nicknames, this story wouldn’t be taken nearly as seriously. [WSJ]

• Back on Top, Yankees Add a 27th Title – Economic recovery is secure. Now who’s paying for the parade? [NYT]
• Senate approves jobless, housing aid – The crazies in the House are up next. [Reuters]
• When Will the S.E.C. Ever Admit They Made a Mistake? – Joe Nocera understands who were talking about, right? [Joe Nocera/NYT]
• A smooth IASB and an impairment change – “Corporate disclosures are about to get even longer if the International Accounting Standards Board gets its way.” [FT Alphaville]
• Sarbanes-Oxley Exemption Passes Congressional Committee – “[N]ot only exempt[s] small businesses (with less than $75 million market cap), but would require the SEC, together with the GAO, to conduct a study directed at reducing the burden of Sarbox 404b on companies with market cap between $75 million and $250 million.” [FEI Financial Reporting Blog]

• Buffett Joins Goldman in Bid for Fannie Mae Tax Credits – “The credits are virtually worthless to Fannie Mae and require the company to take losses each quarter as their value declines. Companies such as Berkshire Hathaway and Goldman Sachs could use them to offset federal tax expenses.” Who doesn’t hate seeing good tax credits go to waste? [WSJ]
• Congress Poised to Keep Homebuyers’ Tax Credit – Despite toddlers’ insistence of homeownership and widespread SNAFUs, the bill could pass as early as today. [NYT]
• AT&T sues Verizon – AT&T doesn’t think the map commercials are funny or accurate. [NYP]
• ‘Osama’ Funding Appeals as U.S. Independent Filmmakers Hurt – Desperate times, right? Just so long as you don’t have any political aspirations. [Bloomberg]
• Surprise! NJ Doesn’t Like High Taxes – “New Jersey holds the distinction of the state with both the highest property taxes per capita and the worst business tax climate in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation.” [Tax Girl]
• Fears of a New Bubble as Cash Pours In – “Behind the trend are measures such as cutting interest rates and pumping money into the financial system, which have left parts of the world awash in cash and at risk of bubbles, or run-ups in asset prices beyond what economic fundamentals suggest are reasonable.” [WSJ]

• Berkshire Buys Burlington in Buffett’s Biggest Deal – WB likes BNSF for $100 a share and he’ll thrown in some free DQ just because he can. [Bloomberg]
• Business Bankruptcy Filings Increased 7% in October – Over 130k total personal and commercial bankruptcies, up 20% from last year. [WSJ]
• What To Watch For On Tuesday – It’s election day. [NPR]
• Stanley, Black & Decker in Deal – “The transaction, which had been discussed three times before, according to the companies, represents a view that the housing market will bounce back from current lows, but also an acknowledgement that the do-it-yourself market and construction will not soon approach sky-high levels of a few years ago.” [WSJ]
• RBS, Lloyds Diverge on U.K. Aid as They Unveil Plans – “The U.K. government said Tuesday it will put £31.2 billion ($51.2 billion) in new taxpayer money into the two banks as part of a revamp of the banking system and the long-awaited asset-protection program.” [WSJ]

• Pandit ‘Near Death’ Cash Hoard Signals Lower U.S. Bank Profits – “The four largest U.S. banks by assets — Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo & Co. — have increased their combined liquidity by 67 percent to $1.53 trillion as of Sept. 30 from $914.2 billion in June 2008, before Lehman’s collapse, according to the companies’ third-quarter reports.” [Bloomberg]
• Sarbanes-Oxley 404(b): Auditors’ Reports on Internal Controls — A Shot in the Arm, or a Poke in the Behind? – “Veteran readers here know my deeply skeptical view that Sarbox was never more than a knee-jerk political feel-good exercise – going back to my July 20, 2002 column in the International Herald Tribune: ‘any legislation receiving the bipartisan margin of 97-0 is bound to be fundamentally defective.'” [Re: Balance]
• Zombies Among Us: The Mainstream Media and Financial Journalism – Are the MSM gobbling the Big 4 PR? [Re: The Auditors]
• CIT: A Different Kind of Bankruptcy? – If by different, you mean, “taxpayer money flushed down the toliet” then, no. [JDA]
• Delaware Beats Switzerland as Most Secretive Financial Center – The IRS’ busting up the whole secret Swiss bank thing probably didn’t hurt the First State’s run at double-secret probation banking Mecca. [Reuters via NYT]

• Goldman, CIT Reach Deal to Keep Smaller Credit Facility Open – Not as much as they wanted but we’re not talking about a company with a lot of options here. [Bloomberg]
• White House: Data Likely to Credit Stimulus for 650,000 Jobs – In what appears to be the debunking of the Associated Press’ debunking of the WH data, the administration is claiming that the stimulus has nearly created the 1 million jobs the bill promised. [WSJ]
• Wal-Mart starts selling coffins – The most modestly priced receptacle is $895. [BBC]
• Galleon fears raised in 2001 – A JP Morgan analyst thought something was fishy with Raj and his “cohorts” and recommend that the bank’s alternative asset management unit should “reduce their allocation” to the fund. Apparently a trophy may have been at stake. [FT]
• Stanford Receiver Hopes to Recoup $1.5 Billion – “Court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey filed a report in federal court in Dallas late Wednesday outlining his plan to go after the $1.5 billion and provide allegedly defrauded Stanford investors a return of as much as 20 cents on the dollar.” [AP via NYT]

• Doing deals between angry parties – ‘Shouting Is Good – or at Least Not Necessarily Bad’ [BBC]
• Economy in U.S. Expands for First Time in More Than a Year – There is the unemployment thing… [Bloomberg]
• Galleon paid banks millions for ‘edge’ – $250 mil just last year. [FT]
• Accountant Sentenced to House Arrest in UBS Tax Case – Stephen Rubenstein is the first UBS scofflaw to be sentenced. [AP via NYT]
• Ask the taxgirl: Donating an Engagement Ring – Somebody wants it. [Tax Girl]

• GMAC Asks for Fresh Lifeline – Third round of bailout aid should be the charm. [WSJ]
• Ex-Chief of AMD Is Linked to Galleon – So far, Hector Ruiz isn’t in any trouble but this certainly doesn’t look good. [WSJ]
• World Series Games Add $15.5 Million Each to NYC, Agency Says – Much of which goes to Billy’s and Stan’s. [Bloomberg]
• Pitchfork Watch: Couple Charged With Torturing Suspected Mortgage Fraudsters – Mortgage brokers, this is your warning. [Naked Capitalism]
• Madoff victims lobby judge to deny Frank DiPascali Jr. bail – Surprise. [NYDN]
• It may be BYOB as fewer firms plan holiday parties – Roll in with the High Life. [Reuters]

• CIT sweetens, extends debt exchange offer – “CIT raised the interest rate payable on its series B notes to 10.25 percent a year from 9 percent, and extended the closing date of the exchange offer to November 5 from October 29.” Carl Ichan isn’t so hot on the idea. [Reuters]
• Florida Bank Becomes 100th to Fail This Year – Partners Bank is the lucky winner. [DealBook]
• Investor With Madoff Is Found Dead in His Pool – Irving Picower had a history of “cardiac issues”. He had been accused of netting $7 billion in profit with BM. [NYT]
• Capmark Financial files for bankruptcy – KKR is among the investors in the commercial real estate company who are SOL. [Reuters]

• Bernanke Calls for Action on Reform – Ben is kindly reminding everyone that maybe we should try to make some regulatory changes since, you know, the world almost ended. [WSJ]
• The pyramid principle – Small banks are not doing so hot. [The Economist]
• Critics: Executive Pay Cuts A Sop To Taxpayers – Campaigns are starting people, progress will have to wait. [NPR]
• Man Pleads Guilty To DWI In Motorized La-Z-Boy – Doing anything with a BAC of 0.29 is probably illegal. [AP via NPR]
• Bank claim that is out of this world – Dalton Chisholm has to present additional evidence today in order to give him a prayer at becoming the first ever billion-trillionaire. [BBC]

• Former car czar: GM, Chrysler were on brink of death – But no gc opinion? [DFP]
• Galleon Sinks; Informant Surfaces – “Tipper A” has a name: Roomy Khan. [WSJ]
• EU warns Oracle over Sun takeover – Oracle hasn’t really made a case that the takeover wouldn’t be anti-competitive. [BBC]
• Microsoft launches Windows 7 – Microsoft’s obvious attempt to derail the career of John Hodgman. [Reuters]
• Pay Czar Decides to Collect a Few Scalps, a Sign of Weakness – We’re looking for Basterds-like numbers Feinberg! [Naked Capitalsm]
• Wall Street Steps Up Political Donations, Lobbying – “Most Wall Street firms stopped making donations to lawmakers when they were receiving government funds, and many lawmakers stopped accepting them. But now that the companies have begun returning the bailout funds, they are making campaign donations again.” [WSJ]
• Further reading – Thanks to FT Alphaville for linking Francine McKenna’s post on KPMG’s Madoff exposure. [FT Alphaville]

• Mets Win One: Owners Made Money on Madoff – “A partnership connected to the baseball team — which had widely been rumored to have lost money investing with Bernard Madoff — actually gained a net $48 million from its dealings with the convicted swindler, according to a bankruptcy-court filing.” [WSJ]
• Madoff adjusts to life in prison – Bottom bunk. He would’ve called the top but when you’re in your 70s, sometimes you just let things go. [BBC]
• CIT debt offer by obscure fund raises questions – Including: How desperate is CIT? [Reuters]
• A Sarah Palin Tax Problem? – Auctioning off a dinner with Governor Maverick makes for some IRS hoop jumping. [TPM]