JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM) said yesterday that it has shuffled the senior leadership of its investment banking and asset management businesses.  The bank said that Steve Black, 57, will become the executive chairman of the investment bank. Steve was previously co-CEO of the division along with Bill Winters, 48, who is leaving the company. Black will however stay on as executive chairman through the end of 2010.  Jes Staley, 53, is taking over as CEO of the investment bank after serving as head of asset management.  Mary Callahan Erdoes, 42, will replace Staley as head of asset management business after serving as CEO of the private banking operations.  According to Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan, the moves were intended to clarify the bank’s succession plans to the board and shareholders. But the timing of these changes and unexpected departure of Mr ...

Shares of Research In Motion (RIMM) are plunging today after the company guided for fiscal third-quarter revenues of $3.6 billion to $3.85 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate had called for sales of $3.88 billion. Part of the problem is the phone models being sold. During yesterday's conference call, RIMM executives talked about the potential for lower average selling prices (ASPs). The Curve 8520 has been doing particularly well, though it was intended to be the lowest-priced Blackberry. Though RIMM intends the Curve 8520 to be an entry-level phone, it's difficult not to believe that cost-conscious consumers view it as a viable alternative to more expensive models. After all, at the end of the day, it is just a phone. Competition may also be an issue. Co-CEO James Balsillie talked about a "land grab" early in the conference call. Balsillie also acknowledged there is an "an ...

Our issue is how to reconcile the opposite views of experts in the bond world versus experts in the stock world.  The market is always full of opposing views.  One stock guy predicts UP and the other predicts DOWN.  However, when the bond guys and the stock guys disagree, that is a more fundamental problem for us.

We have a tendency to think of bond guys as more detailed and more fundamental in their thinking and process than stock guys, so maybe a bit more right.  That could be entirely wrong and unfair, but one thing is sure — they can’t both be right if they predict opposite outcomes, unless the are predicting based on different time frames — then they can both be right.

Anyway, this is the kind of headlines day that makes us want to toss our hands in the air and go fishing.

First you see this:

July 13 (Bloomberg)

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June 25 (Bloomberg) – “Barack Obama may be the worst thing that ever happened to tax-exempt bonds …. “

We certainly agree and see more trouble for tax-exemption down the road.

Obama Chief of Staff, Emanuel said, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”, and the administration is taking that advice by sponsoring and subsidizing the issuance of fully taxable municipal bonds — “Build America Bonds” (the camel’s nose under the tent).

Presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt have tried to tax the interest payments from municipal bonds without success, but the debt crisis has provided Obama with a way.

Build America Bonds (we prefer “Obama Bonds”) pay 35% of the interest cost for fully taxable muni bonds.

Presumably the subsidy also improves the credit quality of the bonds by having a portion of the interest come from the US Treasury.

Example Bonds YTM Rate Comparison:

We based our credit quality argument on logic suggesting the

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