Trader Talk

Finance industry stalwarts are responding to the market mania triggered by retail traders on Reddit. They’re not impressed. BlackRock Vice Chairman Philipp Hildebrand called the phenomenon irrational “nonsense,” while Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said those involved are in for a “rude awakening.” “It is not surprising when you think about how much liquidity is

Despite a substantial dip in wealth management earnings and a headcount of financial advisors that remains roughly flat, Ameriprise brought in record net new assets. Low interest rates amid the coronavirus cut the Ameriprise Advice and Wealth Management division’s earnings by $92 million in the fourth quarter — closing out a year that saw its

The Reddit forum WallStreetBets on a smartphone arranged in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images What’s next for the Reddit crowd? Wall Street seems unsure.  The “blow-out-the-short-sellers game” is showing signs of exhaustion, but the ramifications are only just being felt. What traders can’t agree on is what

GameStop’s shares have been caught up in stock-market insanity this month.Alex Kraus/Bloomberg I’m an indexer and have been one for more than three decades. I put my clients in the most low-cost and diversified index funds around. No attempts to beat the market with such strategies as Smart Beta. It’s precisely because I’m known for

At this time last year, CI Financial hadn’t set foot in the U.S. RIA industry. Yet, by the end of 2020, the company had outpaced Hightower Advisors and Focus Financial as the industry’s fastest-growing RIA consolidator, according to quarterly data by Echelon Partners. The Toronto-based wealth and asset manager, which announced its 14th RIA acquisition

Robinhood Markets, the trading app that’s popular with investors behind this month’s wildest stock swings, has drawn down some of its credit lines with banks, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firm has tapped at least several hundred million dollars, one of the people said. The company’s lenders include JPMorgan Chase and

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Source: The New York Stock Exchange The short-squeeze craziness has implications for trading, regulations and investor psychology: Is there a power shift on Wall Street? What action, if any, will the SEC take? Should there be position limits on options?  To get a better appreciation

The Reddit-spurred market madness is spreading to even the most placid corners of the passive world. A more than 400% rally in GameStop this week is ramping up the company’s weighting in retail indexes. That’s unbalancing usually predictable ETFs from the likes of State Street and Invesco, and prompting a warning from analysts at Citigroup.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made clear the U.S. central bank was nowhere near exiting massive support for the economy during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as officials left their benchmark interest rate unchanged near zero and flagged a moderating U.S. recovery. The central bank’s policy-making body repeated it would maintain its bond-buying program at the

With technology companies leading the way, the industry conference circuit is set to return after coronavirus shuttered such events in 2020. Orion Advisor Solutions and Riskalyze unveiled plans to host conferences later this year for 1,200 and 700 attendees, respectively. Executives at both companies say there is pent-up demand for networking opportunities that just can’t

The SECURE Act’s 10-year limit on tax deferral by retirement account beneficiaries has attracted advisors’ attention, but that far-reaching law also includes three annuity-related provisions — ones which “make it likely that annuities will become more prevalent in company plans,” says Mike Webb, vice president at Cammack Retirement Group in New York. The one Webb

The turn of every new year always generates a plethora of goal setting activity. This year, consider closing the gap between your actions and objectives. Become more effective at what you do. Abraham Lincoln is said to have uttered some practical words in this regard. If he had six hours to chop a tree down,

One of the largest independent broker-dealers is diving into rival-infested waters to compete for breakaway advisors, armed with a new specialty suite of services. Commonwealth Financial Network launched its Business Consulting Services unit on Jan. 20 with an eye toward attracting 15 to 20 ex-employee teams this year, says Matt Chisholm, senior vice president of

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE. NYSE Short sellers on the ropes — or are they?  Short sellers clearly have picked the wrong names in January. The GameStop phenomenon — where buyers deliberately target heavily shorted stocks — is only the most recent development in a long series of failures from short sellers. But

A trading surge that lifted UBS Group’s profit last quarter still fell short of Wall Street’s performance, a sign that Europe’s investment banks may not have fully seized the equities-led rally. Revenue from buying and selling stocks — a traditional strength at the Swiss lender — increased 28% to $1.07 billion in the fourth quarter.

The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Roadmap for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make, by Ron Lieber (HarperCollins, 2021). College is expensive. Aside from retirement, paying for college is one of the top planning priorities of financial advisors’ clients. Parents and often grandparents grow increasingly consumed with this question

One of the most controversial elements of the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed three years ago, is the “SALT Cap” limiting an individual’s annual itemized deduction for state and local income and property taxes to $10,000. Prior to 2018, individuals could deduct an unlimited amount for state, city, and local income and

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman leaped past JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon as the best-paid CEO of a major U.S. bank. Morgan Stanley boosted Gorman’s pay 22% to $33 million for 2020, when the Wall Street bank posted its third consecutive year of record earnings. His pay includes $1.5 million in salary and a

The president of Fidelity’s $3.6 trillion personal investing division is retiring after 12 years in the position, according to the company. Kathy Murphy, 57, who had played a key role in scaling the company’s retail advice channel, is stepping down “around mid-year,” a Fidelity spokesman said in a statement. Fidelity CEO Abby Johnson will work

Why does a $2.2 billion advisor team leave its brokerage after some three decades? Tom Salvino says the reason came into focus after 10 prospective clients in the last two years said the same thing: They only wanted to work with a pure fiduciary. It was this preference — expressed by the team’s existing clients

Deluged by client orders and often working from home, Goldman Sachs’ workforce generated 15% more revenue per employee during the tumult of 2020. But as the year wound down, the firm had spent an average of just 2% more on each person. Inside JPMorgan Chase’s investment bank, revenue per employee surged 22%. The figure for

Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen said she would work with lawmakers to fast-track a series of tax increases on corporations and wealthy Americans as the Biden administration tries to pass spending on infrastructure and expanding the social safety net. Yellen, who awaits Senate approval for the post, on Thursday submitted written responses to Senate Finance Committee

The SEC charged a former investment advisor with defrauding clients and breaching his fiduciary duty by, among other things, over-concentrating portfolios in Rite Aid securities and misrepresenting the security and safety of those assets even after a planned acquisition of the drug store chain fell apart. Jacob Glick, 36, allegedly placed clients in unsuitable and

A midsize wealth manager is boosting its annual revenue by 40% and its advisor headcount by 75% through its first major M&A deal. Arete Wealth agreed to purchase Nashville-based Center Street Securities, which has 112 advisors and $1.04 billion in total client assets, the firms said Jan. 15. The parties didn’t disclose the financial terms

FINRA is examining brokers who received a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal government program intended to provide relief to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter obtained by Financial Planning, the regulator’s National Cause and Financial Crimes Detection Programs says the purpose of the examination is to determine whether

President Biden has picked Allison Herren Lee, a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the acting chair of the SEC, as nominee Gary Gensler waits in the wings as a more permanent chair once he is confirmed by the Senate. Lee was sworn in as an SEC commissioner on July 8, 2019 after

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE. NYSE Stock trading volumes are through the roof.  It’s not just equity prices that are hitting new highs in 2021. Trading volumes for stocks and options are at records as well.  “For trading volumes, the new year starts at a consistent, unprecedented strong & record pace,” according to

Though industry consolidation has stifled some of BNY Mellon Pershing’s clearing business, the custodian is bringing in new assets, particularly from RIAs. The clearing firm, which custodies for both broker-dealers and RIAs, drew in $28 billion of net new assets in the last quarter, BNY Mellon CEO Todd Gibbons said on the company’s earnings call

A financial advisor who had been slated to drop his sex offender status next year is now facing new charges of child sex abuse and indecent assault. Authorities arrested SA Stone Wealth Management representative Gregory Frank Estes on Jan. 19 on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by

Traders on floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Source: New York Stock Exchange With the Biden inauguration — and the risk of disruption — now over, what’s next for markets?  The S&P 500 has risen 15% since the Nov. 3 election to historic highs on a series of macroeconomic hopes that have driven sentiment,