Economic Glance
Hundreds of millions of times a day, thirsty Americans open a can of soda, beer or juice. And every time they do it, they pay a fraction of a penny more because of a shrewd maneuver by Goldman Sachs and other financial players that ultimately costs consumers billions of dollars.
The story of how this works begins in 27 industrial warehouses in the Detroit area where a Goldman subsidiary stores customers’ aluminum. Each day, a fleet of trucks shuffles 1,500-pound bars of the metal among the warehouses. Two or three times a day, sometimes more, the drivers make the same circuits. They load in one warehouse. They unload in another. And then they do it again.
U.S. securities regulators took their boldest step yet in a long-running insider trading probe against Steven A. Cohen, declaring Friday they would try to bar the hedge fund mogul from managing other people's money.
France has failed to secure backing for tough new international tax rules specifically targeting digital companies, such as Google and Amazon, after opposition from the US forced the watering down of proposals that will be presented at this week's G20 summit.
Financial regulators are taking aim at Jon Corzine for his role in the 2011 collapse of brokerage MF Global, announcing on Thursday that they are filing civil charges against the former New Jersey governor and senator.
