Quotidien Wall Street - R.I.P.

Wall Street, R.I.P.: The End of an Era, Even at Goldman

A world of big egos. A world where people love to roll the dice with borrowed money. A world of tightwire trading, propelled by computers.

In search of ever-higher returns — and larger yachts, faster cars and pricier art collections for their top executives — Wall Street firms bulked up their trading desks and hired pointy-headed quantum physicists to develop foolproof programs.

Hedge funds placed markers on red (the Danish krone goes up) or black (the G.D.P. of Thailand falls). And private equity firms amassed giant funds and went on a shopping spree, snapping up companies as if they were second wives buying Jimmy Choo shoes on sale.

That world is largely coming to an end.

The huge bailout package being debated in Congress may succeed in stabilizing the financial markets. But it is too late to help firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, which have already disappeared. Merrill Lynch, whose trademark bull symbolized Wall Street to many Americans, is being folded into Bank of America, located hundreds of miles from New York, in Charlotte, N.C.

By JULIE CRESWELL and BEN WHITE from NY Times

Wall Street, descanse em paz: o fim de uma era

Um mundo de grandes egos. Um mundo onde pessoas adoram apostar com dinheiro emprestado. Um mundo de negócios realizados na corda-bamba, impulsionados por computadores.

Em busca de retornos cada vez maiores -e iates maiores, carros mais rápidos e coleções de arte mais caras para seus altos executivos- as firmas de Wall Street reforçaram suas mesas de negociação e contrataram gênios da física quântica para desenvolver programas à prova de falhas.

Os fundos hedge colocavam os mercadores no vermelho (a alta da coroa dinamarquesa) ou no preto (a queda do PIB da Tailândia). E firmas de private equity reuniam fundos gigantes e saíam em uma onda de compras, adquirindo empresas como se fossem uma segunda esposa comprando sapatos Jimmy Choo em liquidação.

Este mundo está em grande parte chegando ao fim.

O imenso pacote de resgate que está sendo debatido no Congresso poderá ter sucesso em estabilizar os mercados financeiros. Mas é tarde demais para ajudar firmas como Bear Stearns e Lehman Brothers, que já desapareceram. O Merrill Lynch, cujo touro de sua marca registrada simbolizava Wall Street para muitos americanos, está sendo absorvido pelo Bank of America, localizado a centenas de quilômetros de Nova York, em Charlotte, Carolina do Norte.

By JULIE CRESWELL and BEN WHITE from NY Times
Tradução: George El Khouri Andolfato

Quotidien Snoozing

Snoozing at the Terminal

Sleeping at an airport overnight, once almost a sport for the young and short of cash, has become a lot more common lately, affecting even older and professional travelers. And a big reason is that airlines are no longer as free with complimentary hotel vouchers as they once were.

Frank Giotto, President of Fiber Instrument Sales Inc., demonstrated the Mini Motel at the Syracuse airport. The Mini Motel is a one-person tent designed for travelers who are stranded at an airport and includes, an air mattress, pillow, bed sheet, alarm clock, reading light, toothbrush and toothpaste, ear plugs and eye shades.

By SHARON McDONNELL

Published: July 15, 2008
NY Times

Quotidien Collapse

At Least One Killed by Crane Collapse in Manhattan

A crane toppled and collapsed onto a high-rise apartment building on East 91st Street on the Upper East Side on Friday morning, tearing off balconies and raining broken brick and shattered glass onto the street below, in the second Manhattan crane collapse in two months. At least one person, the operator of the crane, who was sitting in the cab as the structure fell, was killed, officials said.

At least two others were injured and taken to local hospitals, according to a fire department spokesman.

The crane, which was apparently being used for a construction project at 354 East 91st Street, snapped apart moments after 8 a.m., sending the top piece onto the white-brick residential building at the southwest corner of 91st Street and First Avenue.

The cab of the crane smashed into the top floor of the building, about 20 stories up, and cascaded down the north facade, knocking off balconies and leaving a swath of pockmarks down to a Duane Reade drug store, which sits on the building’s ground floor. The cab operator died at the scene, the police said.

The accident occurred just two months after a tower crane collapsed on East 51st Street between Second and First Avenues, killing seven people and prompting an extensive review of the safety of the city’s cranes.

Just this week, city officials said they would no longer require inspectors to be on hand at construction sites when a crane is erected or made taller, ending a policy put in place after the Midtown accident. The Buildings Department said on Wednesday that it would switch to a system of spot checks and “safety meetings” where workers would be briefed on proper procedures.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, speaking Friday morning in a previously scheduled radio interview, said the accident “is just unacceptable and we’ve got to figure out what happened here.”

By NY Times