DealBook - The New York Times

For Hedge Funds, Start of 2016 Offers Little Relief From 2015

By MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN and ALEXANDRA STEVENSON

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

For the hedge fund titan Larry Robbins, positions in Monsanto, Cigna, the Laboratory Corporation of America and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries have caused investors a headache.

The first two months of this year have favored very, very few hedge funds.

Strategies

The spread between the adjusted prices of Pfizer and Allergan shares remains unusually wide, a sign that investors have misgivings about their merger.

Pfizer’s Eager to Go, but the Market Has Doubts

By JEFF SOMMER

A spread in share prices suggests that the drug maker’s tax inversion deal with Allergan may not yet be in the bag.

President Obama with a binder containing material on potential Supreme Court nominees. He has given little indication he is likely to reverse the trend of a more business-friendly court.

As Americans Take Up Populism, the Supreme Court Embraces Business

By NOAM SCHEIBER

The next Supreme Court justice is unlikely to greatly narrow a rift between the country and the court on economic power and support for big business.

Interactive Feature: Supreme Court Contenders and Their Views on Big Business 9:36 PM

Autodesk Chooses Peace With Activist Investors

By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

Autodesk’s chief recently compared activist investors to callers on sports-talk radio. Now, some will join its board.

Breakingviews

Some think it will be years before oil returns to $90 or $100 a barrel, a price that was pretty much the norm over the last decade.

Possible Gas Pipeline Deal Could Spur Others

By KEVIN ALLISON

The TransCanada Corporation is said to be in talks with the Columbia Pipeline Group, suggesting that similar deals could be possible.

TransCanada Is Said to Show Interest in Buying Columbia Pipeline 6:06 PM

“My life is really good,” Shari Redstone, the media mogul Sumner Redstone’s daughter, said during a rare interview recently. “It is a dream life,” she said, “except for the part that is not a dream life.”

Shari Redstone Prepares for Battle to Control a Media Empire

By EMILY STEEL

Ms. Redstone says she has patched up her relationship with her media mogul father as a legal battle looms over money and power in the family business.

Fair Game

Stock Buyback Plans, Seen as Shareholder Boon, Can Backfire

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

Investors typically like the programs, but they can do serious damage: LPL Financial’s buying spree increased its debt but mostly benefited only an insider.

Wealth Matters

Brad Sacks, chief executive of More Than Gourmet, at a food show in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday. “I was running this business and there was this shadow over my head,” he said.

When It’s Time to Buy Out Partners, but Money Is Tight

By PAUL SULLIVAN

When a founder’s money is tied up in the business, it can be challenging to get financing to buy out existing partners.

Bank Employee Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Work as Secret Russian Agent

By BENJAMIN WEISER

Prosecutors accused Evgeny Buryakov and two other men in New York as being part of a ring that collected intelligence on behalf of the S.V.R., the Russian foreign intelligence agency.

Brazilian Private Equity Firm Said to Raise $188 Million

By VINOD SREEHARSHA

The firm, Aqua Capital, is said to be seeking to raise a total of $300 million.

Morning Agenda: Hedge Funds Make a Poor Start to the Year

By AMIE TSANG

A Nightmare With No Escape | Chinese Banks Swap Debt for Equity

Editorial

New York Challenges a Tax Privilege of the Rich

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Closing the “carried interest” loophole would be a step toward a fairer taxation system.

N.J. Transit Labor Talks Resume, but No Deal Is Reached

By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS and JASON GRANT

The rail unions were angered by a warning from the agency that health benefits would be suspended in a strike, which could begin in two days.

Hedge Fund Owner’s Suit Over F.B.I. Raid May Proceed, Judge Rules

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The ruling freed lawyers to learn more to support the claim that the 2010 raid on Level Global Investors had resulted from deliberate misrepresentations.

TransCanada Is Said to Show Interest in Buying Columbia Pipeline

By LESLIE PICKER and IAN AUSTEN

Stung by the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline project, TransCanada is said to be seeking a new way into the market.

Dozens of Chinese shipbuilders have been under financial pressure as prices worldwide for new vessels have been halved in the last two years.

For China Banks, Swapping Stock for Debt Is a Stopgap With Pitfalls

By KEITH BRADSHER

Using shares to pay overdue loans could help banks temporarily shore up their balance sheets. But it could cause greater difficulties down the road.

Deal Professor

Energy Transfer’s Deal Is a Nightmare With No Escape

By STEVEN DAVIDOFF SOLOMON

Unfortunately for Energy Transfer, it has no shareholder vote and no special rights to terminate its agreement to acquire the Williams Companies.

Common Sense

After years of dizzying appreciation, the values of luxury assets are plateauing and in some cases plunging.

The Assets of the Ultrarich Come Closer to Earth

By JAMES B. STEWART

That real estate, art and luxury cars do not command the prices of 2015 may say something about the fortunes of those at the top of the wealth scale.

Breakingviews

Draghi’s Plan Lifts Markets, but Clouds Loom on the Horizon

By SWAHA PATTANAIK and NEIL UNMACK

Mario Draghi unveiled an aggressive package of stimulus measures, but he may be encouraging more risk-taking without being able to increase inflation.

Credit Suisse offices in Milan, Italy. Former brokers say the bank owes them millions.

Finra’s Help Sought in Fight Between Credit Suisse and Brokers

By LIZ MOYER

Lawyers for dozens of former Credit Suisse brokers are seeking to have their claims heard in arbitration overseen by the regulator.

Jon Rubinstein, right, with Timothy D. Cook and Steven P. Jobs at an Apple event in 2005.

Bridgewater Names Jon Rubinstein a Co-Chief Executive

By ALEXANDRA STEVENSON

Mr. Rubinstein, who worked closely with Steve Jobs for many years and most recently led Apple’s iPod team, will join the hedge fund in May.

Breakingviews

John H. Gutfreund, seated, with Michael R. Bloomberg, the future mayor of New York, at Salomon Brothers in 1975. Mr. Gutfreund later rose to head the firm as Wall Street was in ascendancy.

Gutfreund Shook Up Wall St., Laying the Groundwork for Disaster

By ANTONY CURRIE

His tenure signaled the vanguard of investment banks moving from partnerships into trading powerhouses – and eventually into scandal.

John Gutfreund, 86, Dies; Ran Wall Street Investment Firm at Its Apex 12:22 PM

E.U. Approves Teva-Allergan Deal With Conditions

By CHAD BRAY

Teva’s $40.5 billion deal for the generic drug business of Allergan was approved after they agreed to sell some operations to ease antitrust concerns.

Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief executive, at a company conference.

Yahoo Labors to Carry On With Core Business While Exploring Sale

By VINDU GOEL and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

The Internet giant, which just named two new board directors, has to continue to try to execute a turnaround, even while potential bidders look to buy some or all its parts.

Morning Agenda: John Gutfreund, Who Ran Salomon Brothers at Its Apex, Dies

By AMIE TSANG

Mutual Funds Resist S.E.C. Plans | Nasdaq to Buy International Securities Exchange

Insight & Analysis

Deal Professor

A Charity-Minded Lemonade Stand Meets Silicon Valley Churn

By STEVEN DAVIDOFF SOLOMON

Ambitions that began with a drink stand and led to a lemonade business, now on hiatus, have shifted to a struggling crowdfunding app, called Stand.

DealBook Column

The reclusive 73-year-old Israeli-American businessman Isaac Perlmutter sold Marvel to Disney for $4 billion in 2009.

Lurid Suit Over Hate Mail Embroils Isaac Perlmutter, Marvel Chief

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN

Isaac Perlmutter, the enigmatic head of the Marvel Entertainment unit of Disney, is accused of orchestrating a slander campaign that called a neighbor a murderer and child molester.

Another View

MetLife has challenged the “systemically important” designation process.

Challenge to Global Insurance Rules Could Slow Overhaul

By DAVID ZARING

American insurers are fighting international regulation by asking for more notice and comment and more trial-type procedures.

White Collar Watch

Although “Downton Abbey” has ended its run, something better may be coming from Britain.

Britain Gets Tougher on Corporate Rule Breakers

By PETER J. HENNING

New rules from British regulators can act as a guide for how to hold senior managers accountable when their companies violate regulatory requirements.

In Depth

The headquarters of Deutsche Bank, right, in Frankfurt.

Timeline: Tracking the Libor Scandal

Abuse of interest rates and the failure to address the problem is one of the most expensive scandals to hit Wall Street since the financial crisis.

Coverage of the Davos World Economic Forum

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Follow The Times’s reporting on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

A JPMorgan Chase bank branch in Manhattan. One area of weakness for the bank was lending to oil and energy companies.

Wall Street’s 4th Quarter Earnings

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Investors are eagerly awaiting guidance from management about when higher short-term interest rates will impact the banks’ bottom lines.

The Times built a Rube Goldberg machine to explain what happens when the Fed raises rates.

What Happens When the Fed Raises Rates, in One Rube Goldberg Machine

By QUOCTRUNG BUI, AMANDA COX and ALEXANDRA GARCIA

Exactly seven years ago, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to almost zero in order to nurse the ailing economy back to health. Recently it changed direction. This is how it works.

Graphic: Credit Default Swaps for North America

The credit default swaps for North American companies with the biggest one-day change in either tightening (reduced risk) or widening (increased risk).

William A. Ackman is known for making large and concentrated bets, and for being outspoken about them.

Top 5 Hedge Fund Earners

By DEALBOOK

The men at the top of the hedge fund universe now run firms that are bigger than they have ever been.

Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.

Timeline: Preet Bharara’s Key Insider Trading Cases

The United States attorney in Manhattan oversaw a sweeping crackdown on insider trading in the hedge fund industry, but a federal appeals court upended the campaign.

Michael R. Milken, left, in 1978, and Ivan F. Boesky, right, in 1987. The two men, both of whom went to prison, became symbols of Wall Street's excesses.

Timeline: Tracking Criminal Inquiries of Wall St. Giants

A lack of criminal prosecutions of banks and their leaders fueled a public outcry over the perception that Wall Street giants are “too big to jail.”

Video: The Foreign Currency Fix

Regulators say that a group of London traders, known as the “cartel” and the “mafia,” illegally dipped into the $5.3-trillion-a-day currency trade.

Special Section

Mutual Funds: The Party That Wasn’t

Investors were pummeled by a volatile but flat market in 2015. And with the current headwinds, the short-term economic outlook seems daunting.

Robust 4th Quarter Couldn’t Redeem Market After an Anxious Year 2:21 PM
A Year Junk Bonds Lived Up to Their Name 3:55 PM
Essay: Loose Lips Sink Careers, Even for C.E.O.s 3:24 PM

Special Section

DealBook: The Long and Short of It

A collection of insight and analysis on the importance of long-term thinking in investments and finance.

DealBook 2015 Conference

From left, Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times, Peter Thiel and Chris Sacca.

Major Investors on Start-Up Issues and Women’s Speech Patterns

By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

Peter Thiel and Chris Sacca offered a wide-ranging look at the state of the technology world at the DealBook Conference.

Don't Miss

Beware the Fine Print

Mr. Barrow’s case against the Brandon Woods nursing home will be heard in Massachusetts state court next month.

Pivotal Nursing Home Suit Raises a Simple Question: Who Signed the Contract?

By MICHAEL CORKERY and JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG

A pending wrongful death lawsuit will test a new legal strategy to prevent nursing homes from requiring their residents to take disputes to arbitration.