Spreads — the price differences that fed specialists' profits — shrank significantly after the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2001 required all stock prices to be quoted in decimals rather than fractions.
The profit warning fed concern that demand for German exports from China and other developing markets may no longer be strong enough to compensate for the weak European economy.
Like whistleblowers themselves, the feds have a profit motive: They bring in $13 for each dollar spent prosecuting a case, and whistleblowers provide 52% of all U.S. government fraud recoveries, says Taxpayers Against Fraud, the whistleblower lawyers' lobby.
Stocks were mixed in mid-morning trading as investors took profits from yesterday's post-Fed meeting rally.
Profits are going to ugly oil-fed regimes, not Western exchequers.
The slaughter did not solve the German food problems (not least because demand for pork remained stable while supply fell, so farmers could make significant profits from the remaining increasingly well-fed pigs).
They've been spoon-fed, spoon-fed, spoon-fed.
A healthy well-fed and well-educated labour force is essential for future profits and prosperity.
The feds had argued for $30 million, based on 1994 sales of $83 million, profits of $12 million, net assets of $74 million, high stock market values for two "comparable" firms and a mere 25% discount for estate-tax purposes.
When the Federal Trade Commission went after the profits, charging that they had been fraudulently transferred abroad, the Cooke Islands trustee spurned the Feds.
