–Trading profits continue to surge at the investment banks. Morgan Stanley‘s earnings more than doubled expectations as revenue from its currency and trading opperations more than doubled from a year ago. The question is how much of that was from better marks. The company’s value at risk was down from the 4Q, so the good new was the trading profits weren’t from taking more risks.
–Finishing out the clean sweep of earnings season for the big banks, Wells Fargo‘s profit reached $2.5 billion in the first quarter. Maybe they didn’t all need to be bailed out?
–Jessi Hemple at Fortune has some good details on new features Facebook is launching to try to compete with Google. She likes what she sees.
–Are strategic defaults goosing retail sales? Probably not.
–Paulson tries to convince investors to stick with his fund. You would think the guy who scored $15 billion from the housing bust wouldn’t have much trouble trying to retain investors. Can the SEC go after limited partners (as investors are often called in hedge funds)?
–Felix dives back into the Goldman/Abacus-like Magnetar trade, and takes the angle that trades like these not only hurt investors but fed the housing bubble.
Anything I miss?
