The Traderszone Network

Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) development of software to cheat diesel-emissions tests was an open secret in the company department striving to make its engines meet environmental standards, Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said on Friday, citing results from VW’s internal investigation. A culture of collective secrecy prevailed within the department, where the installation of the defeat software that would cause the carmaker’s biggest ever corporate crisis was openly discussed as long ago as 2006, Sueddeutsche said.

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The spin-off of that business however, which accounted for 7.4 percent of AIG’s pre-tax operating income in the first nine months of 2015, is unlikely on its own to appease Icahn, who is calling for AIG to break up into three separate businesses. The mortgage insurance business had revenue of $791 million in the first nine months of 2015. AIG is expected to discuss the future of the mortgage insurance business on Tuesday, when it releases its strategic plan, and the sources said this week the company will pursue a partial spin-off of the asset.

Investors hoping equities can sustain their recent bounce next week will carefully watch the U.S. Federal Reserve’s mid-week policy meeting for signs the central bank may slow the path of interest rate hikes. The S&P 500 (.SPX) has already fallen as much as 9 percent this year, with stocks battered by concerns over China’s slowing economy, plunging oil prices and Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer’s comments that he expected about four rate hikes this year.

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating Turing Pharmaceuticals for possible antitrust violations in connection with the company’s decision to hike the price of a life-saving drug by more than 5,000 percent, a lawyer for former Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli wrote on Friday. The probe was disclosed in a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from Baruch Weiss, Shkreli’s lawyer, as grounds for why his client would not answer questions about drug prices at a Jan. 26 hearing.

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AmEx shares plummeted as much as 13.6 percent to $54.15 in midday trading on Friday, a day after the company reported fourth-quarter results and outlook for 2016 and 2017. Shares came under more pressure after CNBC reported that activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital Management LP was no longer a shareholder in the company. The company forecast 2016 earnings of $5.40-$5.70 per share, including a gain on the sale of its Costco portfolio, a 10 percent growth at the midpoint.

Goldman said in a regulatory filing on Friday it had awarded Blankfein a restricted stock bonus of 96,934 shares worth $14.7 million, based on Goldman’s closing price of $151.65 on Thursday when the bank said it granted the award. Goldman’s board of directors typically awards executives 70 percent of their bonus in stock and 30 percent in cash, suggesting that Blankfein also received a $6.3 million cash bonus. Goldman does not disclose the full details of executives’ pay packages until it files its proxy statement.

Tax time is coming.
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