CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratio Disclosure Proposal to Be Issued by SEC

CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratio Disclosure Proposal to Be Issued by SEC

A divided U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will propose that public companies disclose how much more their chief executives earn than rank-and-file workers. SEC commissioners meeting in Washington tomorrow will vote to propose and seek comment on a requirement that has been opposed by the agency’s two Republican members and more than 20 large business lobbying groups, which say the data will be costly to compile and won’t help investors. The disclosure rule, championed by unions and some congressional Democrats, must be issued under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. Read more of this post

CBO Says Short-Term Deficit Cut Won’t Avert Fiscal Crisis

CBO Says Short-Term Deficit Cut Won’t Avert Fiscal Crisis

A short-term shrinkage of annual budget deficits since 2009 won’t reverse the 25-year growth of U.S. debt that requires Congress to avert a long-term fiscal crisis by choosing among spending cuts, tax increases or a combination of both, the Congressional Budget Office said today. The nonpartisan agency said that the sooner Congress strikes a closer balance between tax revenues and expenditures, the easier it will be to implement policy changes with minimal economic disruption. The options confronting lawmakers are raising taxes, cutting spending for entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security, or a combination of the two, the CBO said in its annual report on long-term budget projections. Read more of this post

From Brazil to India, Pain From Currencies; Rupee and Real, Weakened After Fed’s Signal on Bonds, Translate Into Higher Costs to Repay Debt, Buy Jet Fuel

September 17, 2013, 7:43 p.m. ET

From Brazil to India, Pain From Currencies

Rupee and Real, Weakened After Fed’s Signal on Bonds, Translate Into Higher Costs to Repay Debt, Buy Jet Fuel.

PAULO WINTERSTEIN And GRACIELA IBÁÑEZ

SÃO PAULO—The expected end of the Federal Reserve’s era of easy money has hit currencies in emerging markets from the rupee to the real. And that is hurting corporate profits from Bangalore to Brazil. Consider the case of Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, GOLL4.BR -1.01% the country’s second-biggest airline. About 60% of its costs, such as jet fuel, are in dollars, while revenue is in reais. The real fell as much as 15% after the Fed in June signaled that it would be ending its bond-buying program; as of Tuesday, it was down 9.5% year to date. Read more of this post

Subprime Auto Loans Get Larger as Competition Grows, S&P Says

Subprime Auto Loans Get Larger as Competition Grows, S&P Says

Subprime auto lenders are enabling buyers to borrow more relative to the cost of a car in a sign that underwriting standards are deteriorating amid increased competition, according to Standard & Poor’s. The average loan-to-value ratio, or LTV, on vehicle sales to consumers with spotty credit has risen to 114.5 percent this year from about 112 percent in 2010, S&P said in a report yesterday. That compares with a peak of 121 percent in 2008, according to the New York-based rating company. Read more of this post

We still live in Lehman’s shadow; The bank’s collapse was but a symptom of the looming crisis

September 17, 2013 6:38 pm

We still live in Lehman’s shadow

By Martin Wolf

The bank’s collapse was but a symptom of the looming crisis

Both the past and future of our financial system remain as poisonous a topic as they were five years ago, when Lehman Brothers failed. That is a lesson to draw from the forced withdrawal of Lawrence Summers, former US Treasury secretary, from the list of candidates for chair of the US Federal Reserve. For many Democrats, Mr Summers is responsible for the financial liberalisation that led, in their view, to the crisis of 2007-09. Indeed, the debate about the origins and aftermath of the crisis is not over. How can it be when the exceptional policies it caused are still with us? Read more of this post

SEC Approves Publicly Reporting Trades of Privately Placed Bonds

SEC Approves Publicly Reporting Trades of Privately Placed Bonds

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a plan to publicly report trades of privately placed corporate bonds. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the private-sector overseer of U.S. brokerages, asked the SEC for permission to use the Trace price-reporting system for the securities, and the U.S. government agency authorized the proposal on Sept. 6. Finra will announce the start of the system within 60 days of the SEC’s decision. Read more of this post

More than a third of the £150m in public funds being lent to individuals to start their own business – ranging from gluten-free pet food to a magazine about Croydon – could be lost,

September 17, 2013 4:21 pm

Up to 40% of start-up loans unlikely to be repaid

By Andrew Bounds, Enterprise Editor

More than a third of the £150m in public funds being lent to individuals to start their own business – ranging from gluten-free pet food to a magazine about Croydon – could be lost, according to official projections. David Cameron last week increased funding for the Start-Up loan scheme – intended to spur entrepreneurship and promote economic growth – and extended eligibility from under-30s to all adults. Read more of this post

Largest LBO Ever Prepares For Largest Non-Financial Bankruptcy In 30 Years

Largest LBO Ever Prepares For Largest Non-Financial Bankruptcy In 30 Years

Tyler Durden on 09/17/2013 16:25 -0400

If there was one deal that epitomized the last credit bubble, aside from the Blackstone IPO of course, it was the ginormous, $45 billion 2007 LBO of TXU, now Energy Future Holdings. And while the tide for the New Abnormal credit bubble has yet to expose its megalevered monoliths swimming fully naked, as for now corporations have opted for graduated semi-MBOs in the form of ever larger stock buybacks (although as rates rise this too day of reckoning is coming), the time to pay the piper for the last credit-fuelled binge has arrived and inevitable bankruptcy of this landmark deal is now just days away. From the WSJ: “Energy Future Holdings Corp. has begun sounding out banks for financing to help it operate during expected bankruptcy proceedings, which could come as soon as November for the Texas power producer.” Read more of this post