Blog

Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 271-280 out of 377 results for "Muni Markup Week".

SEC and FINRA Issue Investor Alert RE: Year-End Investment Considerations

(Dec 2012)

Late last week, FINRA and the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an investor alert encouraging investors to take stock of their investments and finances at year-end. This alert is rather brief, but offers sound advice to prevent disputes that could lead to the kind of arbitration or litigation we see every day.

In particular, the two regulatory bodies suggest reviewing asset allocations and consider rebalancing. Conventional wisdom tells us that investing in more than one...

Deliverable Interest Rate Swap Futures

(Dec 2012)

Interest rate swaps are important tools used by many financial and non-financial firms to manage their interest rate exposure. Earlier this week, the CME Group launched a new derivative product called Deliverable Interest Rate Swap Futures with the contention that the product offers "maximum efficiency for managing interest rate exposure." This move is close in spirit to the recent move by the Eris Exchange to offer interest rate swaps on an open exchange. Both of these products are designed...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - December 7th, 2012

(Dec 2012)

SEC Secures Trial Victory and Obtains Over $2.1 Million in Disgorgement and Penalties in Market Manipulation Case
December 6, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22561)
A final judgment was entered against brothers Mayer Amsel and David Amsel "following a bench trial in a market manipulation case involving the securities of a company known as East Delta Resources Corp." The final judgment orders the brothers to pay, jointly and severally, over $2.4 million in disgorgement, pre-judgment interest, and...

PowerShares to List Actively Managed Downside Hedged S&P ETF

(Dec 2012)

Late last week, Invesco PowerShares filed a form N-1A registration statement with the SEC to list an exchange traded fund (ETF) with exposure to the S&P 500 with downside exposure actively hedged through VIX futures contracts. The PowerShares S&P 500 Downside Hedged Portfolio (PHDG) seeks to "achieve positive total returns in rising or falling markets that are not directly correlated to broad equity or fixed income market returns" and has annual operating expenses of about 39 basis points....

Attractive Yields and Hidden Risks

(Dec 2012)

The Wall Street Journal had a great piece this weekend concerning the investments some investors are seeking out to find yield in this low interest rate environment. Investors are taking on more and more risk to realize the yield they once found commonplace and this article brings a few examples to the forefront.

The risk investors are taking include credit risk (high-yield/junk bonds), market risk (closed-end funds trading at a premium) or some combination of the two (structured products)....

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - November 30th, 2012

(Nov 2012)

SEC v. John H. Pamplin, Jr.
November 29, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22550)
According to the complaint (opens to PDF), former TurboChef Technologies, Inc. employee John H. Pamplin, Jr. traded with insider information regarding TurboChef's pending acquisition by The Middleby Corporation in 2008 which resulted in a $68,000 illicit profit. According to the SEC, Pamplin violated the Exchange Act. The SEC seeks "permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement, pre-judgment interest, and civil...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - November 23rd, 2012

(Nov 2012)

Brian Stoker Found Not Liable
November 21, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22541)
On July 31, 2012, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York found Brian H. Stoker, former Citigroup Global Markets Inc. employee, "not liable for violations of the Federal securities laws related to the issuance of a $1 billion collateralized debt obligation (CDO) called Class V Funding III." The SEC did not appeal the verdict, and "the time for appeal has expired." The SEC filed its...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - November 16th, 2012

(Nov 2012)

BP to Pay $525 Million Penalty to Settle SEC Charges of Securities Fraud During Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
November 15, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22531)
According to the complaint (opens to PDF), BP p.l.c misled investors by understating the flow rate of oil that was escaping from its Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010. According to the SEC, while BP reported the flow rate was about 5,000 barrels of oil a day, it had "at least five different flow rate calculations, estimates, or data...

Structured Products Highlight: Reverse Exchangeable Linked to Apple

(Nov 2012)

We here at SLCG have been working on research reports to educate investors concerning recent offerings of structured products. We've talked a lot about structured products on this blog and we wanted to start describing the features of individual products and how we analyze their value.

Today we're highlighting a structured product issued in August 2012 by JP Morgan. This product (CUSIP: 48125V4K3) is a Reverse Exchangeable Note linked to Apple stock (AAPL). Reverse exchangeables -- also known...

Dual Directional Structured Products are Risk.net's "Trade of the Month"

(Nov 2012)

Last week a UK firm called Meteor launched a "Bull and Bear Growth Plan" linked to the FTSE 100 that has a payoff similar to a structured product that has garnered significant interest recently: Dual Directional Structured Products (DDSPs). Dual directional products are Risk.net's 'Trade of the Month', and they have chosen this issue as their featured product.

Generically speaking, DDSPs pay out a positive return if the underlying index or stock linked to the product changes in value...

377 Results

<
1
...
26
27
28
29
30
...
38
>