Nasdaq suffers tech glitch, U.S. bank profits soar

With memories of the Facebook listing fiasco still fresh in people’s minds, Nasdaq is now dealing with another listing error.

The exchange was recently forced to cancel trades in Kraft foods, after a trading bugaboo caused shares to record double-digit gains.

It’s a real case of bad timing, given that U.S. regulators have been holding public roundtables to discuss the impact of technology on market trading, and have reached some conclusions that many of the errors stem from low-level programming mistakes.

Pop Quiz

What was a key sign the early 1990s recession, and the lengthy jobless recovery that followed it, had finally turned a corner?

The answer is mortgage refinancing activity. Back then, baby boomers strapped with high lending rates rushed to take advantage of what were then historical low mortgage costs. The resulting free cash got pumped back into the economy and sealed the recovery near the end of 1994.

So, it’s good news that mortgage refinance applications have recently taken a jump in response to the latest round of quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Banks give thanks

Recent reports are showing that, four years after a major infusion of government capital was put on the table to save them, major U.S. banks are doing as well as they ever have. The big six earned $63 billion in profit over a four quarter period ending in June.

And, under orders to improve their balance sheets, European banks revealed they’ve set aside $265 billion in new capital.