FedEx and UPS are better signs of a change in directionhe
"FedEx and UPS are better signs of a change in direction,"he added, referring to the two largest U.S shipping orpackage-delivery companies. "But it's only telling you about the health of thealuminum industry and that's not very good right now. "It's a large company in a major industry and it is thefirst to report, so it gets special recognition," said JosephBattipaglia, a market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co inYardley, Pennsylvania. But many on Wall Street no longer see the aluminumproducer's numbers as a bellwether portending either a deeperrecession or an easing of the global downturn. By Steve James Stocks NEW YORK, July 5 (Reuters) - Alcoa Inc (AA.N), whoseresults are traditionally viewed as an indicator of thecountry's economic health, is expected to post a thirdconsecutive quarterly loss this week. (Editing by Jeffrey Cane, Martin Howell) Stocks Bonds Funds News ETFs News Russia. Thealleged wrongdoing by Aleynikov took place at the beginning ofJune--although it's not clear if it had any material impact onautomated trading.
One question investors need to ask is whether this incidentwill have any impact on Goldman's second-quarter earnings. Which Chicago firm hired Aleynikov?The job he took in Chicago, according to the criminalcomplaint, paid nearly three times more than his $400,000salary at Goldman. Also there's more to learn about anyone who might have beenhelping him and the fallout the case may have for Goldman.When he was arrested, Aleynikov told the FBI he "only intendedto collect 'open source' files on which he had worked, butlater realized that he had obtained more files than heintended." Quick, get this guy a good lawyer. For instance, itappears that he and his wife are competitive ballroomdancers--there are videos of them on YouTube Many questions remain.
While the case is still unfolding, there is moreinformation to unearth about Aleynikov. The German website that Aleynikov is accused ofuploading the stolen information to is registered to a personin London. Among other things, the platformis capable of quickly obtaining and processing informationregarding rapid developments in these markets." Federal authorities appear to believe Aleynikov may havehad help. Here's the way the criminal complaint describes the Goldmantrading platform: "The Financial Institution has devoted substantialresources to developing and maintaining a computer platformthat allows the Financial Institution to engage insophisticated high-speed, and high-volume trades on variousstock and commodities markets. Goldman wasoften at the top of the chart -- far ahead of its competitors.It's possible Goldman had asked the NYSE to stop reporting thenumber after it discovered that someone may have infiltratedthe proprietary computer codes it uses.
Thatmatches the description of a man named Serge Aleynikov on thesocial networking site LinkedIn (the difference in spelling ofthe first name could not be immediately explained). The biographical information for Aleynikov on LinkedIn sayshe joined Goldman in May 2007 and was vice president for equitystrategy. The bio says he was responsible for "development of adistributed real-time co-located high-frequency tradingplatform." The case against Aleynikov may explain why the New YorkStock Exchange moved quickly last week to stop reportingprogram stock trading for its most active firms. A spokeswoman for the UnitedStates Attorney's Office in Manhattan did not comment.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in charging Aleynikov,says he began working for the major financial institution inMay 2007 as a computer programmer and left in early June. On July 4, Aleynikov was processed on a "theft of tradesecrets charge" in a criminal complaint. As of this morning, hewas still being held at the Metropolitan Correction Center inBrooklyn. A Goldman spokesman declined to comment on the incident.Calls to Aleynikov's home in New Jersey, which he shares withhis wife, were not returned. Aleynikov apparently had juststarted a job with another big firm in Chicago after leavinghis previous employer in New York in early June. It appearsthat the financial institution allegedly victimized byAleynikov had alerted federal authorities that its formeremployee might be up to no good. The criminal case began to unfold on the evening of July 3,when Aleynikov was arrested by FBI agents at Newark Airportafter returning from Chicago.