Business

Yes, it's another glaring case of "revolving door" cronyism between Wall Street and the SEC: on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced it had hired Brett Redfearn, a JPMorgan banker, to head the agency's Division of Trading and Markets, arguably the most important group within the SEC, one which oversees U.S. stock markets and brokerages. Redfearn, who is currently head of market structure at JPM, would fill a slot that has been vacant since January when the previous head of Trading & Markets, Stephen Luparello left the SEC...

Cashiers at fast food restaurants aren’t the only workers who should fear being imminently replaced by kiosks and artificial intelligence. Advances in machine-learning software could soon render many high-paying Wall Street jobs obsolete – jobs that will no doubt quickly disappear as electronic trading in equities and foreign exchange markets squeezes trading revenue, forcing banks to seek cost savings elsewhere.

Authored by Carl Dincesen via StockBoardAsset.com,

Summary

Authored by Greg Hunter via USAWatchdog.com,

Former Assistant Treasury Secretary in the Reagan Administration, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, says the record highs you see in the stock markets are based on “phony profits” that come from global central banks “propping up” the financial system.

Roberts says,

“Any of these central banks are really only there for a handful of big banks. That’s all they are concerned with.

 

Despite credit card giant American Express reporting another round of solid quarterly earnings, with revenue of $8.40bn beating expectations of $8.19bn, and generating EPS of $1.50, also above the $1.48 expected, and boosting its profit guidance for good measure, now projecting full year EPS of $5.80 to $5.90, up from $5.60 to $5.80 (above the consensus estimate of $5.75), AXP stock initially spiked, then immediately slumped back to  unchanged, following news that the company's CEO since 2001, Ken Chenault, is retiring effective February 1, 2018.