Opening Bell: GM In Reverse

WSJ says more layoffs for automaker; Bloomberg doubts stock touts; Oil to $200?; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 7, 2008 at 08:37 AM

General Motors is considering another round of layoffs of its white-collar workers, The Wall Street Journal reports on A1. The... More

Missing The Story On IndyMac

Ex-WSJ reporter on the mortgage lender’s bad deeds

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 3, 2008 at 03:59 PM

The Center for Responsible Lending, a borrowers’ advocate group, has an eye-opening report on IndyMac, the troubled California mortgage lender.... More

Skewering The “Green Issue”

The Onion gets it, at least

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 3, 2008 at 02:35 PM

The Onion works its customary magic in its newsstand edition this week with a special edition “All-Paper Salute to the... More

Burning the Mortgage?

Bloomberg says torchings of foreclosures are rising, with little evidence

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 3, 2008 at 12:47 PM

We’d like to smoke out a Bloomberg story saying home arson is “surging” as a result of the wave of... More

Opening Bell: Let ‘Em Fail

Paulson says bad banks should go; fugitive hedgie surrenders; LAT cuts; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 3, 2008 at 08:35 AM

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called for better regulatory tools to help prevent the failures of individual financial firms from threatening... More

The V-Word and Dick Grasso

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 2, 2008 at 03:58 PM

Was Dick Grasso’s win in court yesterday a personal “vindication” for him? That’s what The Wall Street Journal says in... More

Talkin’ About Credit-Default Swaps

Why being bearish on them means you’re likely bullish in general

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 2, 2008 at 03:15 PM

Now of course, we know all about credit-default swaps. And we know that you know all about credit-default swaps. I... More

The Press Drives Out to the Country

USA Today adds to Times on gas hit to rural U.S.

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 2, 2008 at 11:50 AM

The press has written quite a bit about how the price of gasoline is making the exurban lifestyle cost prohibitive... More

Costco vs. Wal-Mart

Slate asks why their labor practices are so different

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 2, 2008 at 10:02 AM

Over at Slate, Liza Featherstone asks a good question: Why doesn’t Wal-Mart pay its employees as well as Costco does?... More

Opening Bell: Moodier and Moodier

Ratings firm pushes out exec; Grasso keeps riches; bust makes Starbucks contract for once; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 2, 2008 at 08:25 AM

Moody’s got rid of an executive after finding “inappropriate” and “deeply disappointing” conduct in his staff’s ratings of financial derivatives.... More

Blackstone vs. the Bean Counters

CEO likes fair-value when prices go up but not when they go down

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 1, 2008 at 11:55 AM

Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times scores an interview with Blackstone Group chief Stephen Schwarzman, who’s running around... More

A Bear Raid?

Vanity Fair talks to lots of Bear Stearns execs who think—surprise!—outsiders did them in

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 1, 2008 at 10:02 AM

Was Bear Stearns murdered? Vanity Fair asks that provocative question in a riveting but overdone piece on the demise of... More

Opening Bell: Swiss Mess

U.S. seeks UBS client list; casino bubble bursting, too?; IndyMac in peril; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 1, 2008 at 08:29 AM

The U.S. is trying to upend the secrecy of the Swiss banks. The Justice Department asked a federal court to... More

Water Boggle

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 30, 2008 at 02:12 PM

The Washington Post goes above the fold on page one with about as good a slap-down of the bottled-water industry... More

Housing Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

So says BusinessWeek in its cover story

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 30, 2008 at 12:22 PM

BusinessWeek takes a look in its good cover story at why the housing crisis is just going to get worse:... More

Unloading Bad Securities

UBS may also soon stand for Undone By Scandals

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 30, 2008 at 10:22 AM

Gretchen Morgenson in the Sunday Times shed some more light on the UBS auction-ratings securities soon-to-be-scandal (That would make at... More

Opening Bell: A Ground Zero Black Hole

WTC delayed yet again; Hoarding hurts food prices; Is this bear ‘94 or ‘74? etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 30, 2008 at 08:40 AM

Editor’s note: Welcome to the new, right-sized Opening Bell. Since February, our young-yet-wizened Ryan Chittum has toiled in the wee... More

Opening Bell: Bear Country

Dow downers; Fed scrambles; one more Countrywide postmortem, etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 27, 2008 at 06:47 AM

Stock markets plunged on Thursday on worries about the health of the financial system and the economy as a whole.... More

Opening Bell

Exxon’s $2 billion win; Fed stays put; States pile on Countrywide; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 26, 2008 at 08:16 AM

The Supreme Court handed a $2 billion victory to Exxon Mobil, saying the punitive-damages award for the Exxon Valdez disaster... More

Opening Bell: Wrong Track

Consumer confidence dives again; so do home prices; real estate crimes; Buffett on porn; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 25, 2008 at 08:24 AM

Consumer confidence plummeted, raising fears of a deeper recession if the pessimism translates into lower spending. The Wall Street Journal... More