Market Talk

There’s a new movie about Wall Street and big business coming to theaters. No, not Oliver Stone’s over-hyped sequel to “Wall Street,” which as we all know gets released today (honestly, I feel like the only business reporter who hasn’t already seen it, seems like everybody in this ro0m except for John, Steve and I got invited to some press screening.) It also isn’t “The Social Network,” the anti-Zuckerberg screed being released today as well.

(Great side note: Zuckerberg is going on Oprah today to announce a $100 million donation to the Newark, N.J., school system. Of course, we’re all supposed to believe it has absolutely nothing to do with that movie. Of course not.)

No, the movie I’m talking about is “Inside Job,” which is being released here Oct. 8. It’s a positively scathing documentary about the financial crisis, and makes no bones about who is to blame: just about everybody inside banking and the government. I’ve seen only the trailer, again, no special press screenings for this reporter, but if you care about the things that this blog cares about, and if you’re reading I’ll assume you do, it ought to hold your interest.

(Interestingly, these aren’t the only business-related movies coming out; seems Hollywood is rediscovering Wall Street. Imaging how long it takes to get a movie from script-form to its premiere at Cannes, those producers must’ve jumped into action about Sept. 15, 2008.)

Yves Smith over at naked capitalism has a review. “‘Inside Job’ (is) an ambitious picture, clearly aiming to stir public anger and action by showing how criminally corrupt the financial services has become and how it has subverted government and the economics discipline,” she says. The film may not star Michael Douglas (although it is narrated by Matt Damon,) but then again old Gordo never wrecked the entire financial system. Just Bluestar.

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- Lots of chatter that Obama will appoint a CEO to replace Larry Summers, an idea that irks Paul Krugman. “For one thing, the NEC director is supposed to serve as a coordinator and honest broker among views — not, or at least not primarily, as a decision maker,” Krugman writes. “That’s not what CEOs are paid for — their job is to be decisive, not summarize other peoples’ arguments.”

- Blockbuster filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy highlights how the mighty have fallen compared to the raging success of Netflix, Josh Brown says. “There is a cautionary business tale in here that is both timeless and essential for all investors to understand…It’s a story that’s been told a million times — the complacent giant felled by a nimbler, hungrier upstart with new ideas.”

- Initial jobless claims continue to portray a labor market stuck in neutral. “Make no mistake: The longer the job market remains stuck in a rut, the stronger the case for arguing that we’re suffering a potent bout of structural unemployment,” James Picerno notes.

- Cable giants publicly say the “cord-cutting” trend — consumers giving up cable for Internet video — is just a myth. But Verizon (VZ) CEO Ivan Seidenberg begs to differ, saying the cable bundle will follow wireline telephone as an example of old technology that eventually becomes obsolete. “Young people are pretty smart,” Seidenberg says. “They’re not going to pay for something they don’t need to.”

- The timing of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark, NJ, public schools is getting the usual scrubbing in the blogosphere. Donation coincides with premiere of “The Social Network,” a movie that doesn’t exactly paint the prettiest picture of Zuckerberg. All Things D blogger Kara Swisher says: “Zuckerberg himself decided to move forward now, sources said, apparently concluding that even if a prominent movie was portraying him as the villain, he did not have to act like one in real life.”

- Existing home sales bounced off a record low and rose a better-than-expected 7.6% in August. But Calculated Risk points out inventory increased 1.5% in August from a year earlier. “The bottom line: Sales were very weak in August — almost exactly at the levels I expected – and will continue to be weak for some time. Inventory is very high, and that will put downward pressure on house prices.”

- Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone tops JD Power’s smartphone satisfaction study for a fourth straight year. But the results weren’t so sweet for Nokia (NOK), ranking below Palm, which isn’t even a public company anymore. “Another humiliating blow for Nokia which continues to struggle for relevance in the smartphone market,” Digital Daily blogger John Paczkowski says. “Incoming CEO Stephen Elop has his work cut out for him.”

- Stock-exchange operators and regulators are moving closer toward replacing new circuit breakers for individual stocks with curbs that would limit trading outside of a set range, WSJ reports.

- In the “Wall Street” sequel, Michael Douglas is splendidly slimy as Gordon Gekko but the rest of the film doesn’t measure up, says Joe Morgenstern.

- F-bomb your way to the top. “Swearing may help you do your @#!%ing job. Yeah, you read that correctly, WSJ’s Deal Journal blog says.

- “I cannot figure out the thought process behind putting a consumer protection agency into the hands of the Fed,” FusionIQ CEO Barry Ritholtz notes. “This is the same regulatory body that gave a total pass to the non-bank lenders at the heart of the subprime, APR and exotic loan issues.”

- Big banks are bad for the economy just like they were 100 years ago when their powerful influence shaped the financial playing field in their favor, NYT’s Economix blog says. “Just as it did 100 years ago, the consensus on big banks has to change. In this instance, either we break them up, or they will soon break us all.”

- “The longer the economy expands without boosting payrolls, the less likely that expansion is to be sustained,” Economist’s Free Exchange blog says.

- Investors are brushing aside the market’s late January/early February declines and seem focused on brighter times ahead. At least that’s what the latest American Association of Individual Investors survey says, as bearish sentiment fell to 26.2%, the lowest reading since early January and third lowest mark since early 2009, Bespoke points out.

- When Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs announced lawsuit against HTC for patent infringement, he said in no uncertain terms that competitors should stop stealing their technology. “That’s not the language of a licensing dispute or the beginning of a polite negotiation. That’s the language of a man aggrieved,” Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber writes.

- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains in no rush to take his social networking behemoth public. Judging from the stock performance this year of the four big digital giants, Facebook’s not missing out on much upside, Kara Swisher says.

- Huffington Post had a staggering 40M unique visitors last month. “Eyeballs are eyeballs,” Peter Kafka writes. “Next up: Turning them into dollars.”

- Despite Google’s threats to pull out of China, China Unicom (CHU) says it still plans on selling handsets that run GOOG’s Android operating system.

- House approves $15 billion jobs plan.

- Sony’s looking to seriously get back in the game. It’s developing a new collection of portable gadgets that connect to its coming online media service and are designed to compete against Apple’s iPhone and iPad.