wall street

Media Watchdog: Sad Brokers Provide Plenty of Material

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

The stock market might be hard to predict during these unsteady times, but there’s one thing that’s certain: You’ll see plenty of photos of unnamed stock brokers on the floors of exchanges around the world looking pretty upset as the market collapses around them.

The style and composition of these photos rarely changes. The traders are usually shot from above, and the more of them in the photo, the better. Getting a ticker sign in the background, preferably with red numbers or down arrows, is good too.

The brokers are rarely identified in these photos, they are simply a visual representation of “Oh crap, the bottom is falling out of the market!” The photos are all the same, and yet each one has its own personality. Thankfully, two people have captured the absurdity of these photos with their blog, Sad Guys on Trading Floors.

Chris Riebschlager and Jess Hemerly launched the site on Oct. 7, a day when the Dow dropped 508 points. The genesis for the site was simple. “I made an off-hand remark on Twitter that it was a bad time for the economy but a banner year for photographers who specialize in sad trader photos,” Riebschlager said in an interview with P+P. “Jess saw this, we started talking about it and decided it’d be funny to start a site based on all these photos. The time between joking about making the site and actually having the site running was a matter of minutes.” (Not quite the same conversation Regis and Kelly had about the market, also on Oct. 7.)

The site has now received over a million hits, and with another extended downturn in the markets possible (though they did respond positively to Barack Obama’s pick of Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary), and plenty more photos of sad traders coming, I asked Riebschlager about the site.

How do you find the pictures you use? They’re a good mix of “traditional” trading floor photos, with kookier ones included, too.

They’re not hard to find at all. Every news story about the economic crisis (and there have been plenty lately) always have an accompanying photo of a sad trader. It’s just a matter of taking a quick stroll through the news sites.

I have come across some odd photos. I have a feeling that the photographers working on the NYSE floor get tired of the typical trader facepalm. When something weird happens, like Gene Simmons shows up or a clown rings the opening bell, they pounce on that.

Newspapers wouldn’t run at least half of the pictures you have on your site—it’s almost like your pictures have too much personality. One of my observations is any story about the stock market dropping has to be illustrated by specific type of photo—group of brokers looking up at board, with a pained look on their faces. Why do you think this is?

A photo of a sad trader is probably the easiest way to illustrate the financial crisis. When the market falls, these people are the first to experience it. The market is such an abstract thing that sometimes the best way to photograph it is to capture the facial expressions of the people right in the middle of it.

The captions are great. What type of commentary do you think you’re making about stock brokers, or about the stock market in general?

I’ve been a huge fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 since I was a kid, so making jokes out of serious things has become a permanent fixture of my personality.  Jess and I have the same sense of humor so early on we were just trying to crack each other up with the captions. We’re not trying to make some relevant commentary on the crisis and we’re absolutely not attempting to insult the people who appear in the photos.  We’re just trying to crack ourselves up and hopefully make some other people laugh.

Do your captions personalize people who are rarely identified? Do they become something more than just a sad face?

I have a very minimal understanding of how a trading floor works, but it seems ridiculous to me that this kind of business is handled by frazzled men and women shouting at each other in a big room. So all the photos taken on the trading floor automatically have a certain amount of ridiculousness built in. Every caption we write is just trying to get a laugh out of that ridiculousness.

You work for an ad agency in Kansas City in new media/interactive advertising, pretty far from the world of Wall Street. Does this make it easier for you write for your site?

I think that l could do this site no matter where I lived. If you’re watching the news, no matter where you are, you are painfully aware of what’s happening on Wall Street. I would guess that’s a large part of why the site received so much attention, we’re poking fun at a phenomenon that a lot of people were already familiar with.

Other people have commented on the “sad brokers” phenomenon (It’s not clear if they are following Riebschlager and Hemerly’s lead, or noticed the pictures independently.) Hemerly found a dubiously funny sketch comedy duo that wrote a song about the common broker habit of “facepalming” while watching bad news on the trading floor. And a blog similar to Sad Guys on Trading Floors, Brokers with Hands on Their Faces, also launched in October, though it hasn’t been updated in two weeks.

With the way the economy is performing now, it’s unlikely there’ll be a blog called Smiling Brokers Can Sleep Well at Night Again. But as depressed (and depressing) as the markets may be, their performance, and the brokers’ reactions, will give Riebschlager and Hemerly plenty more material.

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Daily News Roundup: Kanye in Trubs Again

Friday, November 14th, 2008

In Order: A Late Registration to Anger Management? Kanye’s in the limelight again, but not for the right reasons. Dealing with the first anniversary of his mother’s death as well as a deeply ingrained propensity to get up in paparazzo faces, Kanye attacked another cameraman: this time in Newcastle. The self-proclaimed “voice of this generation” had a scuffle with a photographer lurking in wait for the rapper to leave club Tup Tup Palace. The point and shooter said Kanye cut his face and bruised him while shouting “Get the fucking camera off me!” The Northumberland police took the 31-year-old performer into custody but have released him without charges.

Can’t Keep up with the Jones if it’s Going Down OPEC’s cutting key production. Exxon Mobile’s down. Chevron’s low. Freddie Mac keeps getting worse. Just as investors were hoping to witness an economic seachange, today found Wall Street back in a quagmire with the Down Jones Industrial Average plummeting 230 points.

The State of Things for State Schools These schools used to be cheap,  comparatively speaking. Well, they’re still not at private 40K levels, but students at UCs and Cal State schools are likely to face a 10 percent tuition hike. Given the state’s pitiful budget, the young academics may see UC prices, for example, reach nearly $9,000 per year levels, which would, when added to living expenses cost nearly 15 grand. For those staying in state for good schools they’re used to seeing cost far less than other options, that’s a lot.

FDA may see it as the Land of Honey, but not of Milk The nation’s Food and Drug Administration has begun barring Chinese shipments carrying milk and milk powder-using products (e.g. cookies and candy). China has been known to add melamine, a chemical used for plastic and fertilizer, to its milk because of its ability to enhance the amount of protein in that substance. Seeing as how it’s an industrial chemical, and the past few months have brought some highly disturbing Chinese food and health-related issues to light (such as those involving tainted baby formula), “federal food safety officials” have stated they wish to take no chances and have halted the imports until their contents may be tested.

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Daily News Round Up: Extra, Extra! This, This and This…Just In

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Off the Wall…Street Stocks everywhere seem to be suffering Humpty Dumpty’s fate. On Thursday, the Dow Jones plummeted a stunning near 700 points, and Friday brought a sharp descent to both European and Asian markets. Here’s hoping this October 29th doesn’t resemble the one the world saw in ‘29.

The Economist’s Verdict: Too Little Too Late…Yup, an Official Global Recession Though the world’s banks have been stitching in financial sutures, England’s self-described newspaper explains a widespread recession, if not depression, is pretty much unavoidable at this point.

But Back in LA…Bigotry and Malice out to Play Irvine City Council candidate Attorney Todd Gallingher, a Muslim convert, said a caller told him “‘I want to cut off your head just like all the other Muslims deserve,’” after finding out Gallinger was a Council of American-Islamic Relations employee. The city’s police department is investigating the threat.

The Insidious Disease That Turns Post-Prandial Bliss into Misery One percent or more of the country’s population could be suffering from celiac. The auto-immune disease caused by the ingestion of grains such as wheat, barley and oats could lead to more than an upset stomach. This piece explains it can also herald the onset of “anemia, infertility, osteoporosis and cancer.” In this case, it seems the only cure really is prevention in the form of a gluten-free diet.

Russian Cook May be Stirring the Iranian Nuclear Pot Though this doesn’t mean Russia is, as a country, aiding Iran in nuclear arms development, the investigation surrounding a Russian scientist’s possible illustration to Iran regarding the finer points of detonation is worrisome and the first admission from the part of a nuclear agency that the Middle Eastern country could be “receiv[ing] help from a foreign weapons scientist in developing nuclear arms.” Considering the statements Ahmadinejad has made in the last two years pertaining to what he says is a lack of nuclear arms development and Russia’s separation from the issue, this is no small matter.

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The NY Times Business Desk Laments the End of an Era

Monday, October 6th, 2008

Pity the reporters at the business desk of the New York Times. Things just won’t be the same now that the Wall Street downturn is accelerating into a free fall.

At least that’s the message the paper is sending with two stories documenting changes people in the financial elite are making. The lead story in the Sunday Business section is essentially a eulogy to the good times on Wall Street. In  “Goodbye To All That,” the Times says goodbye to the second gilded age – and what a send-off. No more Lincoln Town Cars waiting outside Lehman Brothers (and later at night, outside Scores, the high-end strip club). No more $100,000 weddings at the Plaza hotel.

The previous day’s story, also on the front page of the Business section, told other tales of woe. Apparently the super-rich are having to cut back on their expenses. People are passing on expensive wine auctions, selling yachts and private jets, and potentially missing vacations in the Caribbean that cost up to $350,000 for a two-week stay (for board only).

Very little distinguishes the two articles, and it seems like there’s another message hiding under the surface. New York Times reporters are bummed this is all coming to the end. Isn’t it a critique of reporters that we just like to bask in other peoples’ glow and live vicariously through their successes?

(more…)

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Daily News Roundup: Party Like It’s 1987

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

The Dow’s 777-point loss? that’s Monday’s news… Bush spoke Tuesday morning, like he did the day before, urging members of Congress to pass the bailout plan. He said he hoped negotiations for new bailout legislation would move forward when members of congress returned to Washington on Wednesday, after the Jewish New Year. Known as a great motivator, Bush was especially inspiring in Tuesday’s speech. “We are at a critical moment for our economy,” he said. “Congress must act.” Analysts agreed Monday’s drop was the worst in two decades.

As for the markets today? It’s a little pointless trying to report real-time stock info, especially when the indexes are so volatile. Check out the Dow yourself. It was up more than 200 points in the first minutes of trading.

Why exactly did the House vote fail? Both the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have good articles explaining why. WaPo conclusion: Americans said “hell no!” and have lost faith in their leaders to lead in times of crisis. LAT conclusion: Some members of congress voted “no” to preserve their jobs. And thanks to redistricting, members in safe districts didn’t have to worry about reaching a consensus with their colleagues across the aisle.

Obligatory sad, horrible, depressing international news: At least 168 pilgrims were crushed to death Tuesday at a Hindu temple in Western India when thousands panicked after getting false word of a bomb scare. The pilgrims broke coconuts as religious offerings, and the slippery floor caused many to fall.

Best New York Times story of the day: The Grey Lady is often mocked for the seriousness it brings to all topics. But that seriousness can result in hilarity in unexpected ways. Like when the Times gets an exclusive interview with Somali pirates. Best paragraph of the piece:

In a 45-minute-long interview, Mr. Sugule expounded on everything from what the pirates want—“just money”—to why they were doing this—“to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters”—to what they eat—rice, meat, bread, spaghetti, “you know, normal human being food.”

Here’s a transcript of the interview. The reporter asked, “Why did you want to become a pirate?” Dumb question—who doesn’t want to be a pirate?!

And in other galactic news … The Mars lander Phoenix found two minerals known to be formed in liquid water—calcium carbonate and sheet silicate. NASA reported Monday the rover’s laser also detected snow falling from clouds more than two miles in the sky. It did not reach the ground.

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