Blog Posts by Aaron Task

Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook!

Thursday brought a raft of data pointing toward a global economic slowdown, including:

Markit PMI for Europe falling to 45.9 from 46.7 in April while the May German IFO business confidence hit a six-month low and the U.K. reported a steeper-than-expected drop in third-quarter GDP.

Meanwhile, HSBC's flash manufacturing PMI fell to 48.7 in May, the seventh-straight month below 50, the watermark for expansion or contraction.

On the home front, April durable goods excluding aircraft fell 0.6% vs. an expected gained of 0.7%.

In the accompanying video, I discuss the data -- and the state of the global economy -- with Dr. Laura Tyson, a professor at Berkeley's Haas School of Business and former top economic adviser to President Bill Clinton.

Generally speaking, Tyson isn't too concerned about China's slowdown, noting it's the intended result of policies put into place last year. Plus, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared this weekend "to prevent the economy from slowing down too rapidly is of great urgency," and state policy is sure to follow suit.

Neither is Tyson overly concerned about the U.S. economy. Citing recent signs of life in the housing market, she says the U.S. economy "has momentum to continue a moderate-based recovery." (See: Don't Look Now, But Here Comes Housing!)

Then there's Europe.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), like many observers, views JPMorgan's loss -- $2 billion and counting -- as a warning shot about the risks in the banking system. There's even more concentration of assets in the banking sector now than prior to the 2008 crisis and the five-largest U.S. banks control over 50% of the industry's assets, up from 17% in 1970, according to the Dallas Fed.

"What recently happened at JPMorgan Chase tells us...the large financial institutions have learned nothing from the financial crisis which they caused and which has led to the worst recession since the 1930s," says Sanders. "I'm pleased to see an increasing number of of people are starting to understand...maybe it is time to start breaking up these behemoth financial institutions."

According to Sen. Sanders, the six-largest U.S. financial institutions have over $9 trillion in assets, more than two-thirds of U.S. GDP. "I fear we are moving down the path once again of financial collapse and then 'too big to fail' and then another taxpayer bailout," he says. (See: JPMorgan's "Wild, Crazy Insane Gamble" Puts Global Economy at Risk: Bill Black)

Given the ongoing stalemate over the Volcker Rule and efforts to finalize and strengthen the Dodd-Frank financial regulation, it's fair to say any effort to break up the big banks can't get a hearing in the current Congress, much less a chance of passage.

As the dust settles on Facebook's botched IPO, a lot of fingers are being pointed, regulators are investigating and at least one class action lawsuit has been filed against Morgan Stanley and Facebook.

"There are issues that we need to look at specifically with respect to Facebook," SEC Chair Mary Schapiro told reporters Tuesday after testifying before the Senate Banking Committee.

The handling of Facebook's IPO is "a matter of regulatory concern," said Rick Ketchum of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street's self-regulatory agency (yes, they have one).

In addition, the top securities regulator in Massachusetts has subpoenaed Morgan Stanley amid reports that the securities firm, who was the lead underwriter on the IPO, selectively disclosed material information about Facebook right before the offering.

"There's a real chance Morgan Stanley will have legal liability," says Andrew Stoltmann, a securities attorney and principal at Stoltmann Law Offices in Chicago. "Other underwriters might as well. We will see as regulatory investigations expand who else might be liable."

According to Stoltmann, Morgan Stanley would be in violation of the 1934 Securities Act if the company -- as had been widely reported -- cut its earnings forecasts in the middle of the roadshow after receiving material information from Facebook, but only told select clients. (See: Facebook Bankers Secretly Cut Facebook's Revenue Estimates In Middle Of IPO Roadshow)

Rule 10b-5 of the 1934 Act prohibits the use of any "device, scheme, or artifice to defraud," and creates liability for any misstatement or omission of a material fact, or one that investors would think was important to their decision to buy or sell the stock, as explained on Cornell University Law School's Web site.

Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook!

Jamie Dimon was not on Capitol Hill Tuesday but he and JPMorgan's big loss were center stage at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

"The company's massive trading loss is a stark reminder of the financial crisis of 2008 and the necessity of Wall Street reform," said Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD).

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the "appropriateness and completeness" of JPMorgan's "financial reporting and other public disclosures," SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro told the committee.

Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said the CFTC is also investigating trades that led to JPMorgan's loss of $2 billion -- and counting. (See: "It's Getting Worse": Why JPMorgan Is Struggling to 'Move On' from Its Bad Trade)

At this point, the debate seems to be over whether or not JPMorgan's losses are a reason to strengthen financial regulations -- "it would be wrong for us not to take this example," Schapiro

Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook!

Every time oil and gas prices jump, as they have in the past year, a great cry goes up: If only America had an energy policy.

Well, we do have an "energy policy," it's just being directed by ExxonMobil (XOM), not Washington, D.C., according to Steve Coll, president of the New America Foundation and author of Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.

"They're closer to a consistent source of energy policy than the federal government in part because of their scale," Coll says, noting the company's roughly $450 billion in annual revenue dwarfs the annual budget of the Department of Energy, which was $27 billion in fiscal 2011.

Because of their consistent long-term strategy, Exxon has been able to "achieve their objectives much more successfully than presidents who come and go declaring they're going to end our dependency on foreign oil," he says.

To get a sense of where Exxon is going, the company earlier this year announced plans to spend $185

With the glaring exception of Facebook, stocks rose modestly Monday morning amid hopes global policymakers will try to stimulate growth rather than focusing on austerity.

At Saturday's meeting at Camp David, G-8 leaders stressed their "imperative is to promote growth and jobs."

Separately, and perhaps more importantly, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared this weekend "to prevent the economy from slowing down too rapidly is of great urgency."

In addition, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart reminded traders that the Fed could do another round of quantitative easing if the global economy weakens further. "I do not think this option can be taken off the table," Lockhart said in a speech in Tokyo. "QE3 will work under the right circumstances."

In recent trading, the Dow (DJI) was up 0.7% and the S&P (GSPC) up 0.9% following solid gains in Germany and France. It's a respectable showing but a fairly tame 'dead cat bounce' considering the blue-chip U.S. index has fallen 12 of the past 13 sessions and is coming off its worst week since last Thanksgiving.

Obviously there are a lot of issues weighing on investor psyche. Beyond general concerns about the global economy and fear of a "disorderly" unraveling of the eurozone, the botched (and now broken) Facebook IPO delivered yet another blow to investors' already fragile confidence. In early trading, Facebook (FB) shares fell to as low as $33.00, down 13% from Friday's initial offering price of $38. (See: Facebook IPO Latest Blow to Investor Confidence)

As part of our live coverage of Facebook's (FB) IPO Friday morning, I put in some limit orders to buy the stock. I wanted to have some 'skin in the game' and have the same experience as our viewers.

What I experienced was a few minutes of terror, followed by relief and then frustration; in part, these emotions can all be attributed to a technical glitch in the Nasdaq's electronic trading system.

After pricing at $38 per share last night, underwriters were forced to delay the opening trade in Facebook Friday morning by about 30 minutes due to what the Nasdaq called "an issue in delivering trade execution messages."

Once it began trading, Facebook rose modestly to around $45, then quickly retreated back to its $38 offering price. The stock stabilized there amid reports underwriters JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were buying shares in order to ensure it didn't break its offering price.

In the first 2.5 hours after the stock opened to trade, over 300 million shares were traded and ultimately

It's been a tough week for the stock market, which is ending on a desultory note as Facebook's (FB) much-hyped IPO struggled.

After pricing at $38 per share last night, underwriters were forced to delay the opening trade in Facebook Friday morning by about 30 minutes due to what the Nasdaq called "an issue in delivering trade execution messages."

Once it began trading, Facebook rose modestly to around $45, then quickly retreated back to its $38 offering price. The stock stabilized there amid reports underwriters JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were buying shares in order to ensure it didn't break its offering price. The stock closed flat at $38.32 a share, but did set a record for volume traded for an IPO. More than 550 million shares traded hands Friday.

Facebook's failure to launch put pressure on other social networking stocks, including Zygna (ZNGA), LinkedIn (LNKD), Groupon (GRPN), Yelp (YELP) and Renren (RENN), which all fell sharply.

For one day, at least, the Facebook IPO