“BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil has officially informed Iraq’s government it wants to pull out of a $50 billion oil project, tellingBaghdad in a letter it has started talks with other oil companies to sell its stake, senior Iraqi officials said.

Exxon’s decision to quit the West Qurna-1 oilfield will exacerbate tensions between Baghdad and the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, where Exxon has signed oil deals seen as more lucrative but dismissed by the central government as illegal.

Kurdistan has upset Baghdad by signing deals with foreign companies including Exxon, Chevron and Total . Kurdish officials say that right is enshrined in the constitution.

But Baghdad says only the central government can control oil policy.

Iraq’s cabinet also said on Wednesday it was expelling Turkey’s state-owned TPAO from its exploration block 9 oilfield but denied that the measure was prompted by any proposed move by the Turkish company into Kurdistan.”

Full article

Another storm is on its way. East coasters stranded by Sandy have more problems on the way.

Full article

“A judge in a U.S court has dismissed a case brought by Apple against Google-owned Motorola Mobility. Apple had complained Motorola was seeking excessive royalties for standards-essential patents. It’s another small blow for Apple in its legal war against Android. The patents in question are among the 17,000 acquired by Google when it bought Motorola Mobility last year – to bolster Android against legal attacks.

According to the BBC, Motorola sought 2.25 percent of the price of Apple products that use some of its patents — but Apple was only prepared to pay $1 per device.”

Full article

“Environmental officials in Pennsylvania have come under fire for their tests on drinking water from a well near a natural gas drilling site. The site’s owners have been taken to court for allegedly poisoning residents.

The documents were released this week, as part of a lawsuit that 7 plaintiffs who live near a hydraulic fracturing or fracking site, are serving on the gas industry.

The residents claim that waste water from a nearby site has contaminated their drinking water.

Toxicology tests on the seven claimants, who live within a mile of the drill and waste water site in Amwell Township, Pennsylvania, found toluene, benzene and arsenic in their bodies.”

Full article

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former customers of MF Global Holdings Ltd’s broker-dealer have added accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as a defendant in a lawsuit stemming from the collapse of the brokerage.

In an amended complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday, the customers of MF Global Inc accused PwC of failing to adequately audit MF Global’s internal controls over customer funds.

The complaint also repeated prior accusations against former officials at MF Global, including former Chief Executive Jon Corzine, who is accused of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, which restricts the use of customer funds.”

Full article

“Standard & Poor’s misled investors by giving its highest rating to derivative-linked notes that lost almost all their value amid the global credit freeze, an Australian judge ruled, in what plaintiffs say is the first decision of its kind.

The credit ratings company was “misleading and deceptive” in its rating of two structured debt issues in 2006, Federal Court Justice Jayne Jagot said in a summary of her ruling released today in Sydney. The Australian councils that brought the case are entitled to damages from S&P and two other defendants, ABN Amro Bank NV and Local Government Financial Services Pty., according to the ruling.

Twelve Australian townships, suing as a group, claimed they lost A$15 million ($15.5 million) of A$16 million they invested in so-called Rembrandt notes rated AAA by S&P. A 13th township sued separately after losing more than 90 percent of its A$1 million investment.

Securitization enabled by S&P and other ratings companies contributed to more than $2 trillion in losses and writedowns at the world’s largest financial institutions and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008, causing credit markets to seize up and leading to a global recession. A report by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said that S&P, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings helped trigger the crisis when they cut thousands of mortgage securities they rated AAA to junk status.

‘Major Blow’

The ruling in Sydney is a “major blow to the ratings agencies”

Full article

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bNyh6BBB0 450 300]

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-VY0xflOkw 450 300]

Wait is a four letter word in NYC….

Full article

Scams and price gouging abound….

Full article

While U.S. markets tried to get back to some form of normalcy, we experience some shut downs during the day largely related to Knight Capital as they lost power from back up generators. Blackouts in their area contributed to the problems.

Full article 

“Hurricane Sandy brought more than property destruction and power outages in Connecticut.

Head over to the New Haven Indepdent for the full story but the gist of it is Katie Carbo, a homeless woman in New Haven, found an upside-down skull buried in the roots of a tree ripped out of the ground by the mega storm.

Its mouth was open and it was still connected to a spine and rib cage.”

Read more

“JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) sued the executive responsible for supervising Bruno Iksil, the London trader whose market-moving wagers led to him being nicknamed the London Whale and who worked in the division responsible for a $6.2 billion trading loss.

Javier Martin-Artajo, Iksil’s boss in the chief investment office, is a defendant in a London lawsuit filed Oct. 22 by the New York-based bank and made public today. The court filings didn’t reveal any details of the complaint.”

Full article

“For the first time in more than a century, weather has stopped U.S. equity trading for two straight days as Hurricane Sandy swept across New York City. NYSE Euronext (NYX) will this morning test a back-up plan in case its headquarters or trading floor are unable to open tomorrow.”

Full article

“Societe Generale SA (GLE), Royal Bank of Canada, and Bank of America Corp. are among nine additional banks that were subpoenaed in New York and Connecticut’s probe of alleged manipulation of Libor, a person familiar with the matter said.

The subpoenas, issued by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman starting in August, bring to 16 the total number of banks that have been subpoenaed in the states’ investigation, said the person, who asked not to be identified because there wasn’t authorization to speak publicly.

Full article

“The U.S civil action seeks at least $1 Billion.US Federal prosecutors sued Bank of America with a $1 billion-plus civil mortgage fraud lawsuit Wednesday, accusing the bank of engineering a scheme that defrauded federally backed mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the national financial crisis.

The U.S complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York accuses the Bank of America of using a loan origination program called the “Hustle” to process mortgage applications at high speed with little checking for fraud, misstatements or other wrongdoing.”

Full article

“Chief executives of more than 80 big-name U.S. corporations, from AetnaInc. AET +0.66% to Weyerhaeuser Co., WY -1.12% are banding together to pressure Congress to reduce the federal deficit with tax-revenue increases as well as spending cuts.

The CEOs, in a statement to be released on Thursday, say any fiscal plan “that can succeed both financially and politically” has to limit the growth of health-care spending, make Social Security solvent and “include comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues and reduces the deficit.”

Full article

You must be pure….

Full article

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeE3-rOG7i4&feature=related 450 300]

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFfoZaOJ5xo 450 300]