Category: Preliminary Analytics

• Dunkin’ Donuts president quits – After Thursday’s success, he must have wanted to go out on top. [BBC]
• Strong dollar ‘very important’: Geithner – Not only that but we have to convince the world that we’re thrifty. Then we wouldn’t be Americans, would we? [Reuters]
• Heads Should Have Rolled at Raters: Congresswoman – Pols using hindsight for grandstanding? [CFO]
• CIT Discloses Its Restructuring Plan – “By simultaneously soliciting votes for a prepackaged bankruptcy alongside the debt exchange offers, the company is hoping to scare enough bondholders into supporting the out-of-court restructuring effort.” Run away. [DealBook]
• Don’t forget to vote in the poll for our Caption Contest. It closes at 3 pm EDT.

• Bank of America Chief Resigns Under Fire – “One sign to company insiders that something was up: Mr. Lewis returned to work after Labor Day in a full beard, which no one at the bank had ever seen before. He shaved it off after one day.” We’re picturing something along the lines of ZZ Top. [WSJ]
• Cowboys Under 60-Yard-Long HDTV Signaling Player-Pay Showdown – “The stadium epitomizes the NFL’s costly building spree during the past 15 years. Many owners used cheap credit to build and renovate 24 of the league’s 31 venues, more than quadrupling debt held by teams and the league to about $9 billion this year from 1996.” On a side note, guess where the NFL CFO used to work? [Bloomberg]
• Crocs laces up $30M in credit – Unfortunately, Crocs seems to have survived its near death experience. [Denver Business Journal]
• Comcast-GE Talks Heighten Intrigue Over Fate of NBCU – Your cable company part owner of Conan, The Office? That feels icky. [WSJ]
• 47% Will Pay $0 Income Tax in 2009 – Probably none of you. [TaxProf Blog]

• Stanford moved to federal lockup in Houston – To help with this complicated case, say his attorneys. Lotta ins, lotta outs. [Reuters]
• Starbucks debuts Via instant coffee in U.S., Canada – So much for coffee purists. [Reuters]
• Rhetorical Tax Evasion – In case you were considering opting out of health care coverage under the new, not even close to being made law, plan. It could cost you 25 large. [WSJ]
• FDIC to propose banks prepay 3 years of fees: source – That should cover them. [Reuters]
• Too Small to Bail Has a Nice Ring to It – Sure. [Breaking Views via NYT]
• Restaurants Dangle Cheaper Drinks but Risk Watering Down Their Profits – The catch is, you’re hanging out at…Chili’s. [WSJ]

• U.S. Increases Cases Against Tax Evaders – Every couple of weeks, the Service is expecting to make new scofflaws public. They describe it as a ‘great success for the government’ which is an odd combination of words. [Reuters via NYT]
• Phone Calls Add to Din Over Loans – “Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is trying to subpoena the remaining records of Countrywide’s VIP loan program. So far, the committee’s chairman, New York Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, has turned down that request.” And some of the tapes have been destroyed anyway. So that could turn out to be a hell of a problem. [WSJ]
• Harkin: ‘Public Option’ Will Be In Final Health Bill – Maybe. Hark also thinks it’ll be done by Christmas. There’s that whole tricky navigation of politics to deal with though. [NPR]
• Xerox to Buy Affiliated Computer for $6.4 Billion – “The acquisition is Chief Executive Officer Ursula Burns’s first since taking over the world’s largest maker of high-speed color printers in July. The transaction helps her expand into a market the company values at about $150 billion and gives her a foothold in managing administrative operations for multiple arms of the U.S. government.” Handling anything for the feds gets you closer to the money printing machine, so that’s not a bad thing. [Bloomberg]

• Accused Perot Staffer Led ’79 Hostage Rescue – The SEC will be dropping the charges due to losing all the evidence… Not really but give it time. [WSJ]
• Goldman to benefit from new OTC derivatives rules: Citi – Surprised? [Reuters]
• IRS Tells Auditors to Look at Loans by Offshore Funds – The IRS continues its role as party-pooper. [Bloomberg]
• PCAOB Issues Report On First Year Implementation of AS5 – There’s room for improvement auditors. Sounds like your personal performance reviews. [FEI Financial Reporting Blog]

• Omaha’s Oracle of Style Sings the Praises of a Chinese Suit – And probably will take the opportunity to spread the folksy seed around. [WSJ]
• Employee of Perot Affiliate Charged With Insider Trades on Takeover Talks – “[Reza] Saleh began buying call options, which give the holder the right to buy stock at a specific future time and price, between Sept. 4 and Sept. 18, according to the SEC complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas. Around that time, several Perot executives and board members, including Mr. Perot, became aware of the takeover negotiations, the SEC alleged.” [WSJ]
• Acorn Sues Over Video as I.R.S. Severs Ties – And the Fox News grave dancing begins…[NYT]
• CFOs plan to invest in technology – When the economy recovers, sayeth Bob Half. [Washington Business Journal via DBJ]
• Microsoft says no plans to buy Electronic Arts Yet. [Reuters]
• The beginning of the end of meaningful regulatory reform – Banks 1 gazillion, Congress 0 [Felix Salmon/Reuters]

• Ernst & Young settles Akai case – No deets disclosed. [FT]
• Chase and Bank of America Revise Fee Policies – Under duress of course. [NYT]
• Moody’s accused of issuing inflated ratings: report – Ratings were bupkis, why wouldn’t their numbers be? [Reuters]
• J&J CFO: Biggest Nightmare Is Public Health Option – It’s not a nightmare for everyone. [CFO]
• Former eBay Chief Running for Governor of California – Good luck. Seriously, you’ll need it. [DealBook]

• For Rent: Chief Financial Officer – “B2B CFO Partners LLC, a Phoenix, Ariz., firm that has over 100 CFOs-for-rent, charges at least $300 to $400 per month for the service.” And essentially function as super heros/therapists. [WSJ]
• Bank of America to Pay for Merrill Backstop, Faces SEC Trial – We’re pretty excited to see how the SEC manages to screw the pooch on this one. [Bloomberg]
• What the SEC Might Look Like If It Did Its Job: Susan Antilla – McNulty? [Bloomberg]
• F.D.I.C. May Borrow Funds From Banks – Is the magic money printing machine over at the Fed broken? [NYT]

• Firms Back Plan to Change Pay Policies – Because if they don’t, the Feds will get involved which bigwig types aren’t really down for. The Fed is still looking to regulate bankers’ pay which is an idea that will likely remain popular forever. [WSJ]
• Dell to Acquire Perot Systems for $3.9 Billion [Bloomberg]
• U.S. as Traffic Cop in Web Fight – No discrimination if you’re watching ACORN undercover shenanigans or free porn. [WSJ]
• Holiday spending seen flat – Sayeth Deloitte’s retail group. Try to remember the kids at least. [Reuters]
• Can Mergers Stay Sane? – Companies with lots of cash will start getting bored and could start throwing money around. [DealBook]

• Financier Pang Allegedly Had Drugs in His System at Death – “Newport Beach police believe the most likely explanation is that Mr. Pang, 42 years old, committed suicide, according to people close to the matter, but they are awaiting the coroner’s report for a definitive conclusion.” [WSJ]
• Investors, It Pays to Mind the GAAP Gaps – “Companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index earned an estimated $13.81 a share in the quarter on an operating basis, compared with $13.51 in GAAP earnings. That is the closest those two earnings measures have been since the first quarter of 2000.” [WSJ]
• Fed to screen U.S. bank pay policies: report – Basically, bankers would have to get approval from Dad before getting their allowance. [Reuters]
• UBS Tax Net Snares Clients of Credit Suisse, Julius Baer, LGT – Eventually, just for simplicity and fairness, everyone will have to tell everyone else where they bank. [Bloomberg]

• Clearing skies over U.S. economy open rift at Fed – Let’s just leave everything alone, it’ll be fine. [Reuters]
• Twitter funding would value it at $1 billion: report – It’s not going anywhere, follow us. [Reuters]
• U.S. unemployment not to peak until 2011: Krugman – “He said the global economy seems to be stabilizing at a level that is ‘unacceptably poor’ and added it is possible that the recession will be a double-dip one.” [Reuters]
• He Built America’s First Megamall – Now that he’s gone, we can’t really place blame here for rampant consumerism, can we? [WSJ]
• SEC Announces New Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation – The latest duct tape measure from the SEC. [SEC.gov]
• Rolls-Royce Unveils Its Economy Car – Less than $250k. If you had only gotten that bonus… [WSJ]

• Bankers Should Repent, Archbishop of Canturbury Says – And since the bankers and others are blaming the accountants, you all should get with the penance as well [AP via NYT]
• Buffett Says the U.S. Economy Has ‘Hit a Plateau at Bottom’ – This bodes well the Beard’s calling of the match yesterday. [Bloomberg]
• Pimco’s Gross Boosts Government Debt to 5-Year High – Take note, USD haters. [Bloomberg]
• James S. McDonald, C.E.O. of Rockefeller & Co., Dies at 56 – Illuminati theories can commence now. [NYT]
• Facebook Says Its Finances Are Looking Up – 300 million members and free cash flow positive, so you must be on there providing witless comments about how you hate our jobs. Join the GC group. [Bits]