AT&T Rumored To Merge With Time Warner

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AT&T is looking to buy Time Warner. According to Bloomberg, AT&T hopes to close the deal by Monday to shut out other potential buyers.
The Wall Street Journal reports. a merger between the two companies would be "the most ambitious marriage of content and distribution in the media and telecom industries since Comcast's 20-11 purchase of NBCUniversal."
According to the Journal, the deal would create a huge media corporation to compete with Comcast/NBCUniversal and would likely receive intense regulation.
Bloomberg says Time Warner's shares surged in trading Friday, increasing by as much as 14 percent to $94.44, giving the company a market value of more than $70 billion. AT&T on the other hand, fell by as much as 4.4 percent.
 

Goldman Sachs Shares Surging After Earnings Report

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Despite a slow start at the beginning of the year, Goldman Sachs sees a huge surge in profit, with quarterly earnings up 47%.
 

The Wall Street Journal reports Goldman reported a profit of $2.9 billion at $4.88 cents a share.
A huge change from the same period last year, when the investment firm reported a $1.43 billion profit at $2.90 a share.
 

The Wall Street Journal says Goldman saw a rise in fixed income, currency and commodity trading and stock trading. Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz says the main reason it appears Goldman is doing so well is due to the low bar set by 2015's poor third quarter performance.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Retires

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Wells Fargo CEO and Chairman, John Stumpf, is out amid a company scandal. Stumpf quit as Wells Fargo deals with a tainted image. The company came under fire after it was discovered bank employees opened credit card and debit card accounts without customers' knowledge.

Stumpf will be replaced by Tim Sloan -- current Wells Fargo President and Chief Operating Officer. According to Bloomberg, the bank's stock fell as much at 12 percent after their unethical sales tactics became known.

But, after Stumpf's departure was announced,  the stock shot up 1 point 5 percent to 46 dollars in extended trading just after five Eastern Time. Stumpf is a 34-year veteran of the Company. He joined Wells Fargo in 1982 as part of the former Norwest Bank, becoming Wells Fargo’s CEO in June 2007 and its chairman in January 2010.

New York structured settlement expert Jennifer D'Andrea-Terreri discusses settlement planning

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New York structured settlement expert Jennifer D'Andrea-Terreri joined Speaking of Settlements to discuss her structured settlement planning practice, based in Western NY, but covering the entire NY State area, including NYC and the surrounding area. This conversation, part one of a three part series on settlement planning, structured settlements, special needs and planning for clients looks at her special emphasis on working with addiction litigation, military families, special needs planning and other matters of interest to trial lawyers.

New York structured settlement expert Jennifer D'Andrea

This series looks at not only her professional work as a settlement planner, but also her expanded role as a certified mediator. Her holistic view of the process of dispute resolution, settlement planning and caring for the needs of injury victims is an excellent illustration of how the professionals, in what was once a profession that was focused exclusively on structured settlements, has expanded to provide comprehensive planning services for trial lawyers and injury victims. The Settlement Channel will be doing a series of profiles, interviews and news segments this fall looking at the changing nature of the structured settlement profession as the next generation of professionals begin to expand the scope of services and the profession responds to the changing needs of trial lawyers and injury victims. 

Jennifer's, who is the newest member of the Structured Settlement Expert Directory,  is located in Lockport, NY and you can learn more about her by going to her profile on the structured settlement expert directory and looking under the NY listing. 

U.S. GDP Grows 1.2% During The Second Quarter

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the US gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the second quarter, below the 2.6 percent forecast by economists. This is the worst first half performance since 2011. The current annual growth rate during this business cycle is 2.1 percent, the weakest of any expansion since 1949, according to the Journal.

Although unemployment has fallen below 5 percent this year and employers are adding jobs, the pace of monthly payroll growth was down, leading Federal Reserve officials to rethink their support of an interest rate increase this year if the economy is not on as solid footing as forecasted.

The second quarter did have some positives: consumer spending rose, personal consumption expand at a 4.2 percent rate, spending on services was up 3 percent, and international trade added .23 percent to overall growth. 

Nonresidential fixed investments however declined at a 2.2 percent pace, meaning companies spent less on buildings and equipment. Residential fixed investments regarding home building and improvements also fell at a 6.1 percent pace.

These 2nd quarter numbers have not yet felt the effect of the UK’s brexit decision which will add more uncertainty.