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Are small, Mom & Pop traders who trust their hard earned dollars to Wall Street being abused? Does a bear wee wee in the woods? A very important trial just started in Chicago that will pull back the curtain on the hidden, high finance trading practice known as spoofing. What is spoofing? Well, the technique combines ultra-fast buys by brilliant computer geeks and smart money guys who make a ton of dough in less time than it takes you to read this sentence. One definition of spoofing says it’s “a fraudulent trading practice that occurs when a trader who owns...

The proposals come just days before the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, and mark Clinton's latest leftward pivots as she looks to ward off a strong populist challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton wants to force firms that are "too large and too risky to be managed effectively to reorganize, downsize, or break apart," in the campaign's words, a move aimed at addressing "too big to fail" that echoes calls from lefties like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). She also wants to make sure that when people break the law they actually go to jail, something that rarely happened after...

Wall Street pay exploded last year to a record high. Average salaries, including bonuses, grew by 14% in 2014 to $404,800, according to a new report from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. After inflation, pay in 2014 was the third highest on record. The average Wall Street salary was nearly six times that of the rest of New York City's private sector, where the average salary was $72,300 last year. Bonuses were similar to their levels before the 2008 financial crisis. The average bonus, up more than 50% over the past three years, was $172,900 last year, according to...

To wit, artificial suppression of free market interest rates by the central bank is designed to cause households to borrow more money than they otherwise would in order to spend more than they earn, pure and simple. Its nothing more than a modernized version of the original, crude Keynesian pump-priming theory—–except it dispenses with the inconvenience of getting politicians to approve spending increases and tax cuts in favor of the writ of a small posse of unelected monetary mandarins who run the FOMC and peg money market interest rates at will. But the whole enterprise is a crock. The consumer...

Financial markets falling... Read more here: Click here for story.

McClellan is bullish today, but he expects definitive peak in stocks between Aug. 20 and Aug. 26 Tom McClellan loves doing what financial advisers tell you not to do. He tries to time the financial markets — to the exact day, if his charts align just right. At the moment, they are telling him to be bullish on the stock market for all of his trading time frames, including those that trade every few days, weeks and months. But bulls should be ready to flee, as soon as this week. That’s because McClellan said his timing models suggest “THE” top...

Why Wall Street loves Trump Turney Duff There's a love-fest going on between Wall Street and Donald Trump — but not for the usual political reasons. The truth is, Wall Street loves a circus — and Trump just brought it to town. "The guy is hilarious," said one sales trader. "I can't wait to see what he does next." That's the general consensus of Wall Streeters I spoke with: Trump shoots off his mouth and isn't politically correct, but a lot of folks from the investment community share his views and believe that the government is broken. "I love the...

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Wall Street fell on Tuesday as Apple's shares remained under pressure, hitting their lowest in more than six months, and investors digested earnings reports from a host of companies. The iPhone maker's shares fell as much as 4.4 percent to $113.25, slipping firmly below their 200-day daily moving average, a key technical level closely watched by traders. The stock was also the biggest drag on the three major U.S. indexes. While there was no clear trigger for the selloff, traders said worries over a slowdown in China and skepticism over demand for iPhone 6s were likely...

Hillary Clinton on Friday sought to downplay the latest twist in the long-running scandal over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, saying reports of a possible criminal probe are full of inaccuracies. News emerged on Thursday evening that at least one inspector general passed to the Justice Department evidence of potential mishandling of classified information, a referral that could lead to a criminal investigation. Clinton on Friday said people are getting worked up over not much. “Maybe the heat is getting to everybody,” she said, in remarks before a policy speech in New...

Back in June a bright, young, soon-to-be Deutsche Bank intern prepared for his first summer on Wall Street. He told us he knew what he was getting into: "Terrible hours." He was right. On this 21-year-old's very first day, he was staffed on a project at 8 p.m. and ended up working until 2:30 a.m. His hours have let up somewhat since, but he rarely leaves before 10:30 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. On weekends, if he's not working and can meet a friend for lunch, he'll choose a table near an open window because the fresh air is such a...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Cruz pointed out that big business and big government can go hand-in-hand, hurting economic mobility and the chance for people to live out the American dream.Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz cannot be accused of playing to the audience after some of the things he said at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference. The event took place in New York City before a Wall Street crowd. Cruz pointed out that big business and big government can go hand-in-hand, hurting economic mobility and the chance for people to live out the American dream. Related Stories Here Is A Special Delivery These ISIS...

U.S. stock markets were tipped to open higher on Monday following news that Greece and its international creditors have reached a bailout agreement. European Council President Donald Tusk said early on Monday that euro zone leaders reached an unanimous agreement with Greece after all-night talks in Brussels to move forward with a bailout loan for Greece provided Athens implement tough reforms. "Markets have responded very positively to the news, which comes following months of uncertainty and increasing fears that Greece could suffer a messy exit from the euro zone," Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at currency trading firm OANDA....

International hacking group Anonymous wished Wall Street ill the night before the New York Stock Exchange temporarily suspended trading on all securities. The activist group tweeted late Tuesday: Wonder if tomorrow is going to be bad for Wall Street.... we can only hope. — Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 8, 2015 New York trading was suspended around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday due to a "technical issue," the exchange said in a statement posted to Twitter. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no indication the NYSE had been hacked, according to Bloomberg and CNN. The exchange said the glitch could not be...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) met with billionaire hedge-fund manager Dan Loeb on Wednesday, Business Insider has learned. Walker was seeking Loeb's key financial support ahead of his all-but-certain presidential campaign, but he didn't get it. According to sources close to the situation, the sticking point was Loeb's support of same-sex marriage. Last month, Walker called the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide a "grave mistake." He also called for a constitutional amendment to reverse the decision. “As a result of this decision, the only alternative left for the American people is to support an amendment to the...

An expert says a failed systems upgrade forced the New York Stock Exchange to halt trading on Wednesday. Two weeks ago, the New York Stock Exchange told trading firms and other subscribers that it would be discontinuing some of its legacy systems. Apparently, the fix disconnected the entire NYSE. The NYSE has not yet confirmed why trading on the exchange had been halted on Wednesday morning. It has said that it was the result of technical issues and did not offer any further elaboration. But Eric Scott Hunsader, an expert in Wall Street trading systems who heads market data firm...

The hacker group Anonymous posted this last night: "Wonder if tomorrow is going to be bad for Wall Street.... we can only hope." And Gawker posted this: ITEM: The New York City subway system suffered an atrocious commute today, with some trains being inexplicably stranded in stations for long periods of time. ITEM: The website “The Dissolve” folded today. ITEM: United Airlines was forced to ground all of its flights after its computer system mysteriously stopped working. ITEM: The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading today after its computerized trading system mysteriously stopped working. ITEM: Immediately after, the Wall Street...

First United Airlines today now then The Stock Exchange Earlier I noticed this Morning Apple Music was down. Then Zero Hedge was down earlier. Now the Wall Street Journal is down.

Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country's already bloated deficit. Greeks aren't very welcome in the Rue Alphones Weicker in Luxembourg. It's home to Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office. The number crunchers there are deeply annoyed with Athens. Investigative reports state that important data "cannot be confirmed" or has been requested but "not received." Creative accounting took priority when it came to totting...

Former NFL player Mark Rubin, who beat Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps in swimming as a kid, captured the title of "Wall Street's Best Athlete" on Sunday at the Wall Street Decathlon for the fourth consecutive year. Rubin, 29, is a futures and options trader who will be starting a new job at ICAP. He previously worked as a vice president at Barclays. In a span of four hours, Rubin and other athletes in the financial-services industry completed a 400-meter run, football throw, pull-ups, 40-yard dash, dips, 500-meter row, vertical jump, 20-yard shuttle, bench press, and 800-meter run. Rubin, a...

For years, when it came to presidential candidates, Wall Street made huge compromises in order to support the Republican Party. The money men in New York City set aside their socially liberal views in order to support fiscally conservative candidates because that was the only way to get on the same page as the GOP base. The result has been a series of candidates Wall Street's big donors didn't really want. It seems those donors are getting tired of that outcome.