peHUB Second Opinion 5.26.10

Dow: After being kicked in the shins by the flash crash, the DJIA is now below 10,000.
Related: The SEC is suggesting an audit trail to track trades. Now, in 2010?

FASB: It issued new guidelines on the accounting of financial instruments. Loans and other debt instruments now get the same treatment. Here, have a gander.

When VCs attack: When they attack company founders, that is.

Mickey Mouse and insider trading: Is nothing sacred?
Related: Branding is for companies (or mice) but not humans.

Unlikely winners of financial reform: CME Group and others.
Related: At a Reuters breakfast this morning, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Evercore’s Roger Altman, and Perella Weinberg’s Joseph Perella share a hearty chuckle at the idea of banks who claim that prop trading isn’t important.

Europe’s banks: Hoarding cash, according to the Wall Street Journal. If we remember our Depression studies accurately, banks hoarding money is the single worst thing that can happen to an economy.

Compensation: A number of CEOs did not increase their compensation last year. Bess Levin suggests it’s because they weren’t important enough.

Appaloosa: It lost $1 billion of AUM last month. David Tepper shrugs at the Ira Sohn Conference.
Related: The conference was sure to be full of surprises.

How not to pitch a VC: At a urinal.

Mortgage lenders: Why they went wild.
Related: GIC, of Singapore, may spin off its real estate arm in an IPO.

Healthcare: The flaw in Obama’s plan is that independent contractors like Mark Gimein just don’t mind paying the penalty.