US markets will be affected by ‘leap second’

By Ed Zwirn

Originally published on June 28, 2015 in the New York Post.

US markets will be affected by ‘leap second’

If it seems like summer days are lasting longer than ever, it may not be your imagination. The last day of this month will last exactly one second longer, a fact that has sent financial markets and software developers in general into a mad rush to slow down. Continue reading

Dodd-Frank’s Next Act: Executive Pay

The SEC’s proposed disclosure rules have drawn criticism from proponents and opponents alike.

 

By Ed Zwirn (CFO Magazine July 2015)

Nearly five years after the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was signed into law, the Securities and Exchange Commission has entered the final stretch of the rulemaking required of it under the act.

The agency is drafting new provisions regarding executive compensation disclosure, and like previously implemented Dodd-Frank rules — such as those involving whistleblowers, derivatives, conflict minerals, and proprietary trading by banks — the new provisions have generated much controversy.

According to a proposal released by the SEC for comment in April, companies will be required to disclose the relationship between executive pay and performance, starting with 2016 annual schedule 14A and schedule 14C proxy and solicitation statements issued prior to shareholder meetings… Continue reading

USA extends meat import privileges for African exporters

AGOA was first approved in 2000USA extends meat import privileges for African exporters

By Ed Zwirn, in New York, 22-Jun-2015

With a compromise over the US-South Africa poultry trade having paved the way, the US House of Representatives’ overwhelming approval of a Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015, which includes re-authorisation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), means that African exporters of all sorts of goods to the US should enjoy continued duty-free access. That includes meat and livestock products.

New York yacht sales finally set to rebound after Hurricane Sandy

New York yacht sales finally set to rebound after Hurricane Sandy

By Ed Zwirn

(Originally published on June 14, 2015 in the NY Post.)

New York’s local waterways may be clogged this boating season as local yacht sales cruise higher.

Stock portfolios and real estate values have been rising over the past few years, and sales of recreational boats of all sizes increased 7.3 percent in New York state in 2014, bucking a national trend of sinking sales, according to a National Marine Manufacturers Association report.

After years of floundering US sales as a result of the economic maelstrom that was 2007 to 2010, in which the industry saw a peak to trough decline of  60 percent decline nationwide for recreational boat sales, says Gerrick Johnson of BMO Capital Markets. Johnson adds that last year saw a rise of 8 percent in sales nationally.

A large part of the NY metro-area rebound, aside from the general economic recovery, is that local boat sellers are getting a boost as storm-ravaged property owners get around to replacing some of the 65,000 or so boats destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Continue reading