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STORIES:
UBS
to cut 10,000 jobs in fixed income retreat – (www.reuters.com) Swiss bank UBS unveiled plans on Tuesday to
fire 10,000 staff and wind down its fixed income business,
returning to its private banking roots as it adapts to tough capital rules that
make it harder to turn a profit from trading. Zurich-based UBS will focus on
wealth management and a smaller investment bank, ditching much of the trading business that
ran up $50 billion in losses in the financial crisis and is embroiled in a
global LIBOR rate-fixing investigation. Some UBS staffers took to social media
to air their frustration after dozens of traders were stopped from entering the
bank's London offices on Tuesday.
Spanish Contraction Continues as Austerity Spur Inflation -
(www.bloomberg.com) Spain’s
economy contracted for a fifth quarter, undermining efforts to plug the
budget deficit that’s pushing the nation closer to a bailout, while austerity
measures kept inflation at a 17-month high. Gross domestic product declined 0.3
percent in the three months through September, compared with 0.4 percent the
prior quarter, the National Statistics Institute said today. That compared with
the Bank of Spain’s estimate on Oct. 23 of a 0.4 percent contraction. Consumer
prices, rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier, Madrid-based INE said. The
prolongation of Spain’s five-year slump, which is prompting record loan
defaults at the nation’s banks and job cuts at companies including Gamesa SA (GAM), adds to pressure on Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy as he resists requesting
international aid.
New York Subway System May Take Weeks to Recover From Storm
- (www.bloomberg.com) New
York’s subway system may take weeks of work and tens of billions of
dollars to be restored to full service as officials assess the toll from
floods, hurricane-force winds and electrical damage that crippled the most
populous U.S. city’s transportation hub. “I can say unequivocally that the MTA
last night faced a disaster as devastating as it has ever faced in its
history,” Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman Joe Lhota said at a news
conference today. Sandy, the Atlantic superstorm, exceeded officials’ worst-
case scenario, Lhota said. It wreaked havoc on the entire transportation system
in New York and New Jersey, including subways, buses, roads
and commuter railroads.
Insight: A giant storm and the struggle over closing Wall
Street - (www.reuters.com) At 6:30 p.m. on Sunday night, with Hurricane
Sandy bearing down on the U.S. East Coast, New York Stock Exchange operator
NYSE Euronext had more immediate problems: a revolt from the trading firms that
are its lifeblood. NYSE officials, including global head of sales Christine
Sandler, told the firms that while the exchange would shut down its physical
trading floor it was planning to open for business on
Monday as an electronic-only trading venue for the first time. But dealers
trading shares were skeptical, according to interviews with about a dozen
people privy to discussions including senior exchange officials, Wall Street
executives, traders and other sources. The final choice after more than two
days of discussions, these sources said, came down to this: whether to use an
unproven system to keep the markets open while risking employees' safety, or
close for the day and play it safe.
L.A.
City Council President Herb Wesson wants sales tax hike - (www.latimes.com) Determined to find a new
solution to Los Angeles' budget crisis, City Council President Herb Wesson said
Tuesday he wants his colleagues to prepare a half-cent sales tax hike proposal
for the ballot in the March municipal election. Wesson said such a measure
would generate $220 million for the city, which has faced a shortfall every
year since the nation’s financial meltdown in 2008. A public opinion poll has
already identified a citywide sales tax hike as a "viable" proposal
in an election, Wesson said. “We’ve cut just about everything that we can cut.
I can’t say if we do this, we’ll never have a budget shortfall again,” Wesson,
the council president, said. “But this will help us for now, if we’re
successful."
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