The Main Events: 5/21/13
The biggest point of discussion today will be JP Morgan's Proxy vote to decide whether or not to split the roles of CEO/Chairman. Jamie Dimon currently holds both roles and the lack of oversight in the company has brought up questions of whether he should continue in both roles. History favors Dimon. There isn't really a consensus on whether this will help JP Morgan, some say no. It's been a contentious issue though.
The big news yesterday was Steve Cohen of SAC Capital saying he wouldn't cooperate with the SEC investigation any longer. Meanwhile, SAC is struggling with withdrawal requests. Cohen is the hedge fund manager that buys all the art, if you wanted to remember him for something.
To divert from financials, Sprint-Nextel has been given permission to non-public data to Dish. Sprint is supposed to be bought by Japan's Soft Bank, but Dish recently came in with an intriguing offer. Soft Bank's acquisition of Sprint is contingent on Sprint's ability to close on Clearwire. That might have hit a snag. It'll be interesting to see how this situation works out. I'm guessing Soft Bank is softening on the deal, whereas Dish sees a lot of opportunity in Sprint.
The other major stories are Apple's tax avoidance and Burberry's Asia growth. Let's be realistic, most companies try to lower their tax burden to the greatest degree possible. Burberry's Asia growth is big because we've seen some slowdown in China. This could suggest change and I'd look also at how Coach and Michael Kors do.