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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Moodier and Moodier

   July 2, 2008 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. It’s yet another black eye for the credit-ratings industry. The Financial Times, which broke the story in May that... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   Blackstone vs. the Bean Counters

   July 1, 2008 11:55 AM

   Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times scores an interview with Blackstone Group chief Stephen Schwarzman, who’s running around town saying an accounting rule is to blame for much of the severity of the credit crisis. Sorkin thinks... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   A Bear Raid?

   July 1, 2008 10:02 AM

   Was Bear Stearns murdered? Vanity Fair asks that provocative question in a riveting but overdone piece on the demise of the investment bank. VF’s Bryan Burrough (author of “Barbarians at the Gate”) never quite gets at why it thinks... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Swiss Mess

   July 1, 2008 08:29 AM

   The U.S. is trying to upend the secrecy of the Swiss banks. The Justice Department asked a federal court to force UBS to reveal its American clients who used it to evade their taxes, The Wall Street Journal... Continue reading

5. The Kicker

   Water Boggle

   June 30, 2008 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 as you’ll ever read. We realize Bottled Water Is Bad has fast become conventional wisdom,... Continue reading

6. The Kicker

   Housing Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

   June 30, 2008 12:22 PM

   BusinessWeek takes a look in its good cover story at why the housing crisis is just going to get worse: The interventionist housing bill in Congress would only help out about half a million borrowers, conflicts between lenders... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   Unloading Bad Securities

   June 30, 2008 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 least two at the Swiss bank, which is also in trouble for helping billionaires evade their taxes... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   Opening Bell: A Ground Zero Black Hole

   June 30, 2008 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 hours to bring you a morning roundup of the business news. From now on, Ryan will offer a shorter version... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Bear Country

   June 27, 2008 06:47 AM

   Stock markets plunged on Thursday on worries about the health of the financial system and the economy as a whole. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 358 points or 3 percent to 11,453, the lowest level in nearly two... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    Opening Bell

    June 26, 2008 08:16 AM

    The Supreme Court handed a $2 billion victory to Exxon Mobil, saying the punitive-damages award for the Exxon Valdez disaster was too high. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both put the news on A1... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Wrong Track

    June 25, 2008 08:24 AM

    Consumer confidence plummeted, raising fears of a deeper recession if the pessimism translates into lower spending. The Wall Street Journal splashes the news across four columns on page one, while The New York Times stuffs it on... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Opening Bell: GM’s Gas-Guzzler Blues

    June 24, 2008 06:40 AM

    General Motors continued its struggles, going back to its same old bag of tricks for another round of zero percent financing in a bid to spur cash- (and credit-) strapped consumers to take on yet more debt. The carmaker... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    Opening Bell: At Least It Wasn’t a Bridge Tournament

    June 23, 2008 07:49 AM

    The Wall Street Journal takes a withering A1 look at the performance of Securities and Exchange Commission chairman during the credit crisis. The paper makes Chairman Christopher Cox out to look like the Jimmy Cayne of the regulatory... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Perp Walk

    June 20, 2008 06:42 AM

    The Bear Stearns Two got their perp walk yesterday after a federal grand jury indicted them on criminal fraud charges, the first of the credit crisis on Wall Street, saying they lied to investors and destroyed evidence. The... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    Opening Bell: GAO Smacks Down Air Force

    June 19, 2008 08:10 AM

    The Government Accountability Office handed Boeing a huge win, finding that the Air Force improperly awarded a $35 billion contract to build new midair refueling planes to its competitors Northrop Grumman and Airbus. The Wall Street Journal,... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    Opening Bell: What’s Goldman’s Secret?

    June 18, 2008 07:49 AM

    Goldman Sachs continued to navigate the credit crisis better than any of its peers. It reported just an 11 percent drop in profit in the first quarter to $2.1 billion. The Financial Times says the investment bank... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Fed Says Markets Too Optimistic

    June 17, 2008 07:46 AM

    The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times both go page one with apparent leaks from the Federal Reserve that the markets’ expectations of future rate increases are too aggressive and that the central bank thinks the financial system... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Crimes at Bear Stearns

    June 16, 2008 07:14 AM

    Federal prosecutors are preparing to indict two Bear Stearns executives who ran hedge funds there that collapsed last summer in one of the earliest signs of the unraveling of the financial industry, The Wall Street Journal scoops on... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Ax Falls At Lehman

    June 13, 2008 08:00 AM

    Heads rolled at Lehman Brothers as the Wall Street bank took action to restore its tattered credibility after a brutal couple of weeks raised questions about its viability and that of the rest of the financial sector. <a... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Are Your Chemicals Safe?

    June 12, 2008 07:29 AM

    The Washington Post on A1 writes that a tough new European law regulating the chemical industry is affecting the way U.S. products will be made—and its sounds like that’s a good thing. The new regulations will force companies... Continue reading

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