Volcker whacks Goldman Sachs and SAS: A new no. 1 best employer

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City of Industry, CA --(www.USEquityNews.com)-- 01/22/2010 - Financial News industry alert provided by U.S. Equity News. NEW YORK (Fortune) -- A proposed trading crackdown backed by former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker overshadowed Goldman Sachs' biggest-ever profit Thursday.


New York-based Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) posted a gaudy fourth-quarter profit of nearly $5 billion. That number beat the Wall Street analyst consensus estimate by more than $3 a share, thanks to an unusual reduction in employee compensation that handed shareholders a $3 billion after-tax bonus.

But investors weren't cheering. They were too busy fretting over the big banks' profit outlook in the face of a growing bonus backlash now seemingly joined by the White House.

"Profits were so immense in 2009, I think everyone assumes we'll see some settling out in 2010," said Paul DeLucia, a partner at Options Group, a New York-based financial consulting firm. [Read the full article]

You have to pay, but it's only $55 for an hour, and that's with pretax dollars. And the convenience is priceless: right up the stairs from the gymnasium, weight room, billiards hall, sauna, hair salon, manicurist, and aqua kickboxing in the Olympic-size pool. (Posted etiquette rules: "A bathing suit is required" and "No cellphones in class.")

There's classic massage, Swedish massage, orthopedic massage, and myofascial release -- all designed to make workers "more aware of their bodies, move with greater ease and freedom," and "have increased energy, reduced feelings of pain, and feelings of relaxation and well-being."

I don't know much about statistics, business analytics, data mining, or computer programming, but today I'm doing just fine as a fantasy SAS employee. [Read the full article]

(Fortune Magazine) -- Kip Tindell, chief executive of the Container Store, is sitting on a stool in a Build-a-Bear Workshop in Dallas, trying to affix the limp carcass of a monkey doll onto a metal pipe attached to what looks like a giant cotton-candy machine. Around the same time, Maxine Clark, chief executive of Build-a-Bear, is wearing a red apron and trying to convince a customer at the Container Store in St. Louis that it's okay to give store-bought cupcakes as a gift to her boss as long as they come in a pretty box.

What sounds like an episode from the old Bizarro World comics actually happened not long ago. It was all part of an experiment: What, Fortune wondered, would happen if two CEOs from our Best Companies list traded places for the day?

The matchup of Tindell and Clark seemed promising: Both are company founders who started with an unusual idea and built it into a half-billion-dollar retailer. And happily, both are incredibly good sports. [Read the full article]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices fell near $76 a barrel Thursday, tracking a broad selloff on Wall Street, and following a greater-than-expected rise in gasoline supplies.

What's moving the market: In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said U.S. oil supplies dropped by 400,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 15.

The decline surprised analysts who were expecting crude stocks to have risen by 2.8 million barrels, according to a survey conducted by research firm Platts.

However, gasoline supplies jumped by 3.9 million barrels, almost twice the 2.1- million-barrel rise analysts were expecting.

The report showed that distillates, used to make heating oil and diesel, decreased by 3.3 million barrels. Analysts were expecting inventories to rise by 1.1 million barrels.

Stocks also plunged Thursday after President Obama's proposals to limit the size and scope of banks' investment activities. [Read the full article]

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