In a Stock Broking Firm who is really happy?

Was taken aback by gigantic screen's showing CNBC TV 18.... Series of Computers with dealers punching ...plush office... beautiful girls who also seemed intelligent... all nicely dressed people.... they looked so happy & rich? I had doubts... do I belong here...forget winning can I survive here... After all it is India's Biggest Broker.....

We work hard, we spend sleepless nights, we make it to the best schools, we struggle to survive, we fight to compete to get the highest paying job, we strive to outperform peers, and end up being victims of our Business Cards & Designation’s inscribed on it.

Designation becomes our destination & we are in this blind Rat race running on treadmill weaved by the numbers, targets or KPI’s designed to extract best out of us. I see this in my Office, yeah a top notch Sock Broking firm, the people who really seem to be happy are the traders in the dealing room, the analyst seem to be under extensive pressure to generate those research report with highest ‘hit-rate’ so we can claim that our research is the best in the market & we have the arsenal to tame the vilely old beast called Stock Market. But the Analyst are a  breed one of its kind passed out of Ivy leagues, never tasted failure or pain, they will always be in the most aspired & envied job in Investment Industry. But the grass always seems to be a tinge greener on the other side of glass cubicle, what we don’t see are the thorns on that chair of an Analyst.

So let me talk something interesting, let me talk about my team oh-yes we are the rain makers!...We are the self proclaimed sexy bitches, of the company, oozing with confidence, oh yeah we are the sales guys, we seal the deals, we bring business on the table, the most important leg (again self proclaimed) of the broking tripod, but behind the ooze there is lot of midnight booze just to get some sleep & few hours of target-less life.

And if you think traders are a jolly bunch, then I need you to dig deep, as there is more to it than what meets the eye, beneath the laughter & joy there exists a deep sorrow of small child who sat on the trading desk & never grew, always one regret I wish to learn more, know more , grow more.

How can we forget the back office guys, there name has nothing to ride home about, nothing appealing, no lime light, there life gets stuck up in not so cheesy words like T+2, delivery, settlement, compliance.

So we conclude the clients who make money rest in eternal bliss, wait a minute when you are deep out of the money or when your netwoth has reduced to half & in middle of operation in Operation theater if your dealer calls & ask “Saheb tamaru MTM loss vadhi gayu chee aane position continue karva maatein tamne bay lakh bharva padsse”( Meaning: Sir your MTM losses have escalated, your a/c is showing a debit bal of Rs 2 lac, you need to pay so as to continue with your existing positions.)

How can a doctor possibly operate under this severe traumatic condition?

So who is a happy bunny in all this process, without a speckle of doubt it’s the Brokers...    

“You Win Big… You Lose Big…. I only Win!”

It’s a great irony of life that everybody wants’ to go to heaven but none ready to die for it.

Still we work hard in a belief “We are just a trade away from being a millionaire & bankruptcy, there exists a grey space somewhere in between that’s where we reside.”

Disclaimer:-

I have no intention to malign any profession,employer, or any entity living or dead, the article should be taken in the right spirit. The events in this piece are part fictional.

Bond investors Want Actions & Not Just Premium From Greece Govt.

Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) is an independent global investment management company managing assets worth $423 billion, expected more action from the Greek Govt. to resurrect it’s finances,  as just highest bond yields in the euro area wont lure investors to buy more Greek bonds. Invesco reduced its holdings of Greek bonds in the fourth quarter as the fiscal deficit was more than 12% of GDP as compared to EU’s 3% limit.

The Govt. announced as much as 4.8 billion Euros ($6.5 billion) in extra cuts in deficit two days ago reacting to this investors bought 5 billion Euros of Greek 10-year bonds yesterday, Axel Blasé a fund manager expect concrete structural changes rather than myopic actions, before they decide to invest, he also added the current spreads look attractive but also cautioned against volatility ahead.

The spread, which averaged 54 basis points in last 10 years, reached a high of 396 basis points in January, the biggest gap since before the euro’s debut in 1999. Bloomberg reported Greek public debt is the worst performing in the Euro zone and has lost about 1.4%.

Some companies like DWS Investment Gmbh wish to take a contrarian approach to Invesco’s call to stay away from buying Greek bonds as they expect its European partners will help Greece to come out of the mess without scars. Many investment experts see a value in buying Greek bonds as a robust demand was seen for 10- year bonds yesterday & the order book exceed 16 billion Euros more than three times of face value on offer.

India Inc. to See Pay Hike's

Year of Tiger has got some good news with it, we can see those double digit pay hikes with average pay hike being around 10.6% which is highest in the Asia pacific region according to survey by Hewett Associates.
It's expected that India based Co's will provide better pay hikes as compared to Mnc's just due to the robust performance of India Inc.

Expert's believe that Sector's which might see spike in salaries are those which have close association with the consumer story, as The Union Budget for 2010-2011 has left lot of money with vibrant middle class, which will form's backbone of the next consumption led Bull-run. Sector's to benefit would be Media & Entertainment, Retail, Banking & Financial Services,Investment & Insurance Co's.

It’s Raining Pay Hikes at Wells Fargo (WC)

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) has almost doubled in size after its successful acquisition of troubled bank Wachovia (NYSE: WB), so has the compensation of its top executives. Wells Fargo & Company rewarded its top five executives with compensation more than $11 million in 2009, while CEO John Stumpf went home with a package of $21.3 million reports The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Stumpf received $5.6 million in fixed salary and $13.1 million in stock options (ESOP’S), also his pension saw an increment of $2.6 million. His remuneration in 2008 stood at $8.8 million.CFO Howard Atkins remuneration more than doubled in 2009 to $11.6 million from $4.9 million a year ago. Wells Fargo bank has repaid all the $25 billion it received in 2008 from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP thus liberating itself from few Govt. restrictions.

US Stock Index Futures Maintain Status- Quo Prior to Key Economic Data

U.S. stock-index futures didn’t show any excitement before release of home sales, factory orders and jobless claims data. Meanwhile shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) fell by 2.9% to $12.18 after Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. downgraded the stock to Market performer as they believed the stock was fairly priced at these levels. Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) & Coca Cola Company (NYSE: KO) jumped 1.9% & 1.1% respectively after buy recommendation by BofA- ML & UBS respectively.
On back of good earnings growth expectations in the banking sector & possible resolution to Greece’s sovereign debt crisis S&P 500 rose to its highest point after Jan 20. Economists expect a better performance in the housing sector due to extension in tax credit, they also feel that jobless claims would go down.
The euro fell from a two-week high against the dollar. Fund Manager’s feel the dollar might rise against global currencies thus resulting in an exit from riskier asset classes.