Time to batten down the hatches on Wall Street. Of course I’m talking about Ben Bernanke’s “no QE3 for liquidity addicts” Jackson Hole speech; Hurricane Irene will prove far more temporary than the financial panic, which simply won’t go away.
It’s interesting to note that Mitt Romney is (figuratively) about to get into bed with John Paulson, the guy who worked with Gollum Sucks to put together a portfolio of some of the sh!tt!est mortgage assets, ever, to unload on unsuspecting, hapless greater fools, who were dumb enough to put their trust in Wall Street scam artists.
You go Mitt! Between publicly-announced plans to construct a ginormous new La Jolla ocean-front castle, and your overtures to a notorious hedge fund scam artist, you are setting a tone of too-privileged-to-lead in advance of the inexorable political trench warfare of the 2012 presidential race.
MARKETS
AUGUST 27, 2011
Wall Street Ready for a Real Storm
By STEVE EDER, ROBIN SIDEL and DAN FITZPATRICK
A pedestrian walks by the iconic bull near Wall Street in September 1999 during Hurricane Floyd. The Street is bracing for another drenching.
Three years after Wall Street weathered a financial crisis often likened to a giant storm, the financial world was bracing for Hurricane Irene to deliver an unwanted dose of the real thing.
The storm’s approach prompted the New York Stock Exchange to take down the giant flag that normally hangs on the façade of its Broad Street headquarters and spurred J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to extend Friday hours at its 376 New York City branches.
Irene also forced a flurry of weekend staffing decisions at big financial companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and American Express Co., all of which have major operations in the Lower Manhattan zone under the city’s evacuation order.
American Express, which is headquartered in the World Financial Center near Manhattan’s southern tip, told employees to “use your best judgment and inform your leader” if they needed to leave early to prepare for the storm, according to an internal memo. It wasn’t immediately known how many employees left work early.
Nomura Securities, which also has offices in the World Financial Center, told workers the hurricane could mean that “our ability to operate from our offices on Monday will be disrupted.” It set plans to operate out of a site north of New York City.
Among the New York headquarters that could be hit by Hurricane Irene over the weekend are American Express (pictured), Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange and Deutsche Bank.
Goldman said it has plans in place to keep employees safe while serving clients. Citi said some employees may work from other locations on Monday. A contingency planning committee at Morgan Stanley was set to convene via telephone over the weekend.
The storm’s approach didn’t just affect big companies. In the Hamptons, a popular upscale summer spot, deck chairs were being swept inside and a least one big weekend bash was being canceled.
Hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson and his wife, Jenny, had planned to host a fund-raiser for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney at their estate in Southampton, N.Y., on Sunday.
Financiers from the New York region were expected to attend, but the event was canceled because of the storm, according to people familiar with the situation. One attributed the postponement to “an abundance of caution.”
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