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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Tech Biz Buzzes On

   April 17, 2008 07:08 AM

   In another good sign for how the tech industry is holding up, IBM reported solid first-quarter earnings yesterday with profits up 26 percent and revenues up 11 percent. The New York Times on C3 is quick to note,... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   Opening Bell: What Recession?

   April 16, 2008 07:04 AM

   Not everybody’s losing money these days. The New York Times has on A1 a story based on a hedge-fund industry trade mag’s list of top earners last year. John Paulson took in $3.7 billion with huge anti-housing bets,... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Retail Rut

   April 15, 2008 07:20 AM

   The New York Times leads page one with a story on a “wave of bankruptcies” at retail chains, something it says is “expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country.” There’s not much here... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Hat In Hand

   April 14, 2008 07:10 AM

   The Wall Street Journal reports on C1 that Charlotte-based Wachovia is getting a capital infusion of as much as $7 billion this week, showing that the financial crisis is very much not over. The deal comes just two... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Dems Dodge Trade Vote

   April 11, 2008 07:17 AM

   House Democrats stalled Bush’s Colombia free-trade pact, the papers say. The New York Times notes on C1 that the party-line vote “masks deep party divisions on the issue” among Democrats. Republicans say Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   Opening Bell: FAA (Finally) Gets Tough

   April 10, 2008 07:23 AM

   Airline safety concerns continued to grow, with American Airlines canceling more than a thousand flights yesterday and grounding three hundred of is planes after nine of them failed newly aggressive Federal Aviation Administration inspections of their wiring. American will... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Justice Under Bush

   April 9, 2008 07:58 AM

   The New York Times devotes its column one on A1 to a look at how the Justice Department has effectively gotten out of the corporate-prosecution game, relying instead on something called “deferred prosecutions” to slap the wrists of... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   Opening Bell: Penn-ing A New Trade Deal

   April 8, 2008 07:06 AM

   The free-trade issue is all the rage in the media these days, after the Clinton/Colombia campaign crackup, and both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times front stories on the trade deal. The WSJ focuses on... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Opening Bell: WaMu’s Angel

   April 7, 2008 07:43 AM

   The Wall Street Journal scoops on A1 that Washington Mutual is about to get a $5 billion capital fix from outside investors, something the paper says is a “humbling hand-in-hat moment for the 119-year-old Seattle stalwart. Having parlayed the... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Job Drop

    April 4, 2008 07:04 AM

    The economy is beginning to shed jobs at a worrisome pace. Initial unemployment claims soared 38,000 last week to 407,000, according to the Financial Times. That was well above the 366,000 that economists had predicted. Most of the... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Back-Scratching 101

    April 3, 2008 07:14 AM

    Senate leaders agreed on a compromise housing-relief plan in non-senatorial fashion—fairly quickly. The $15 billion to $20 billion plan (depending on who’s counting) would give couples who don’t itemize a thousand bucks in property-tax deductions, hand housing agencies $10... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Opening Bell: When Down Is Up

    April 2, 2008 07:06 AM

    Stock markets rallied big—again—yesterday on news that two big financial players are taking multibillion-dollar hits. Yes, news has been so bad for so long on Wall Street that things like UBS announcing a $19 billion write-down of its assets... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Subprime Mess Snares UBS

    April 1, 2008 07:42 AM

    Swiss banking giant UBS announced this morning that it would take a massive $19 billion write-down of its assets in the first quarter and seek $15 billion in new capital, Bloomberg reports. Its chairman, who helped create the... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    Opening Bell: The Fed’s Blank Check

    March 31, 2008 07:59 AM

    The Wall Street Journal fronts news that a plan is taking shape within the Bush administration to turn the Federal Reserve into a regulatory “supercop” in what would be the most sweeping changes in financial regulation since the Depression.... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Uncle Jimmy’s Fire Sale

    March 28, 2008 07:10 AM

    The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times both report that our beloved national uncle, Jimmy “Nero” Cayne, has sold his entire stake in Bear Stearns for about $61 million. It’s a long way down for someone... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Regulation!

    March 27, 2008 07:12 AM

    Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the Federal Reserve should have more power to regulate Wall Street. He’s the first in the Bush administration to endorse such an idea, says The Wall Street Journal on A1. In keeping... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Clearly a Mess

    March 26, 2008 07:40 AM

    The Wall Street Journal reports on A1 that the $19 billion private-equity deal reached 16 months ago for Clear Channel has all but fallen apart, apparently because the banks who agreed to finance it have now decided that’s... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    Opening Bell: We Was Mugged

    March 25, 2008 07:39 AM

    JPMorgan Chase upped its offer for Bear Stearns from $2 a share to $10.13 yesterday in a bid to appease shareholders, staunch an exodus of Bear employees, and prompt Bear customers to have faith in the company as a... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    The Opening Bell: Blubbering Bear

    March 24, 2008 07:07 AM

    The New York Times goes above the fold on A1 with a major scoop that JPMorgan Chase is discussing quintupling its $2 bid for Bear Stearns to help the deal go through with ticked-off shareholders of the No.... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Opening Bell: Ripple Effect

    March 21, 2008 07:45 AM

    Commercial-finance firm CIT Group said it’s in trouble yesterday, having had to tap more than $7 billion in emergency loans from its backup credit line, and forced to sell off up to $7 billion in assets. After its credit... Continue reading

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