Traders

I'm writing in response to the photo of the traders on the stock exchange floor with their heads in their hands ("Summer plunge," Aug. 5). My heart goes out to those little brats in their $3,000 suits . Especially the one with the $10,000 wristwatch. Next time, show a picture of the poor chap sweeping the stock exchange floor who might lose his job. John A. Pica Jr., Baltimore

Anne Arundel County Fire Department officials said a Freon leak Tuesday morning at the Trader Joe's in Annapolis sent two people to the hospital and caused an evacuation of the store. Two hours later, though, the store in the 100 block of Jennifer Road was deemed safe and was reopened, according to fire officials. The incident was reported at about 10:45 a.m., according to fire department Division Chief Kevin Swindle. He said the first unit on the scene found three people suffering respiratory trouble, attributed to an “irritating odor,” he said.

NEW YORK -- As Wall Street traders, economists and analysts left for Labor Day vacations yesterday, their departure seemed more a flight than the start of a long weekend."

Frances F. Trader, who worked in billing at Johns Hopkins Hospital, died Sept. 28 of pneumonia at Stella Maris Hospice. The longtime Rodgers Forge resident was 89. A daughter of Italian immigrants, Frances Fina was born in Baltimore and raised in Little Italy. After graduating from the Institute of Notre Dame in 1940, she was a war worker during World War II. She was married in 1952 to Hugh H. Trader Jr., who was a noted Baltimore News-Post sports reporter. He died in 1967.

NEW YORK -- The latest victim of Wall Street's cost-cutting woes: Free lunches for traders at Goldman, Sachs & Co.As of tomorrow, traders at the nation's largest and richest private partnership will be forced to foot the bill for their daily deliveries of sandwiches and the like, people within the firm said.The move comes after the 126-year-old firm suffered one of its worst years ever, prompting a $650 million cost-cutting campaign that included firing almost 15 percent of a work force that totaled about 9,200 people at mid-year.

ROBERT Goodman has been a student of the stock market for more than 30 years, and he's noticed a change in investor behavior that's making him nervous.Goodman, senior economic adviser at Putnam Investments Inc., the giant Boston-based mutual fund company, says long-term investors are turning into high-strung traders, who flip stocks as fast as a McDonald's employee flips burgers during the lunch-hour rush.The change, which he detected through conversations with brokers and mutual fund representatives, stems from the bombardment of bad news ranging from the White House sex scandal to imploding economies in Asia and Russia, he said.

The head of Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown's trading operations in Baltimore has taken early retirement, and two other top traders at the firm have resigned to take jobs with competitor First Union Corp. here.Michael F. "Mickey" Misera, 41, managing director in charge of domestic equity trading, left Friday in the wake of the company's merger with Deutsche Bank AG. His departure was followed by those of Christopher L. Holter and Christopher H. Bartlett II, both of whom left Monday to join First Union Capital Markets Group.

AFTER an exhaustive study, Allen Poteshman, a professor of finance at the University of Illinois, has confirmed news reports shortly after Sept. 11, 2001: Trading in options on airline stocks AMR and UAL indicates that someone profited from advance word of the terrorist attacks. "There is evidence of unusual option market activity in the days leading up to Sept. 11," Poteshman writes in a paper posted on the Internet that goes deeper than the initial reports. Obviously, authorities missed the market signal.

KABUL, Afghanistan - At the raucous Sharzoda Currency Exchange, the value of the country's skittish currency is determined these days by one man: the former king, 87-year-old Mohammad Zahir Shah, living in exile near Rome. When the former king said months ago that he planned to return, the afghani, as the currency is known, rose against the dollar. It rose higher when a date for his return was set: Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on March 22. When that deadline came and went, the currency fell.

BENEATH the conventional chairs and tables of the world economy, a hectic cat-and-mouse game is under way in the financial markets. Thousands of ordinary investors here and overseas, the mice, are playing with a few giant banks, the cats, in trading currencies. The Internet is awash in sites offering direct trading in currencies. With no commissions, cash down payments as low as 1 percent and 24-hour action, the direct foreign exchange (forex) market has captivated many Nasdaq day traders of the late 1990s.

Two additional nut butter products have been added to a list of Trader Joe's products consumers should not eat because they have been linked to a Salmonella outbreak. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene advised consumers Friday not to consume or purchase Trader Joe's brand Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter made with sea salt, manufactured by Sunland Inc. Monday Sunland also  voluntarily recalled Trader Joe's Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds, Crunchy and Salted and Trader Joe's Almond Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds, Crunchy & Salted.  The outbreak has sickened 29 people in 18 states, including a child in Maryland who was not hospitalized and has recovered.

According to Occupy Wall Street protesters and Democrats, the Grinch stealing Christmas this season is the collective corpus of bankers, hedge fund managers and other financial-sector bigwigs who don't pay their fair share in taxes. It's easy to see why. They make perfect scapegoats for unemployed college graduates with lots of debt, big-government liberals and others who want to believe a black-and-white narrative of the country's financial collapse and blame someone. But protesters and others should hold a mirror up to themselves and check the facts on the "1 percent.

  Kristine and Dan Trader   Glen and Katherine Stone, of Parkville, announce the marriage of their daughter, Kristine Stone, to Dan Trader, son of Miriam and Hugh Trader III, of Baltimore. The bride earned a bachelor's degree in human services from Stevenson College. The groom earned a bachelor's degree in digital art and design fromTowson University. The ceremony was held at Turf Valley Country Club. The bride's uncle, Pastor Jeff Wilson, of Roanoke, Va., officiated.

I'm writing in response to the photo of the traders on the stock exchange floor with their heads in their hands ("Summer plunge," Aug. 5). My heart goes out to those little brats in their $3,000 suits . Especially the one with the $10,000 wristwatch. Next time, show a picture of the poor chap sweeping the stock exchange floor who might lose his job. John A. Pica Jr., Baltimore

Mix one pack wasabi peas with one pack chocolate-covered almonds. No, seriously, this looks like a good gift for a new college student. I'm getting one for Z___ A______. It's the "I Love Trader Joe's College Cookbook. " "Each recipe - from fabulous finger foods to delicious desserts - has been thoroughly tested to guarantee it's not only tantalizingly tasty but also easy to make when kitchen space, cooking utensils, preparation time, and chef's attention span are in short supply.

On April 30, 2009, NANCY M. TRADER (nee Mortillaro), beloved wife of the late Richard E. Trader and devoted mother of the late Richard E. Trader, Jr. Friends may call at Gonce Funeral Service, PA., 4001 Ritchie Hwy on Saturday 7 to 9 P.M. and Sunday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Mass of Christian Burial in St. Rose of Lima Church on Monday at 10 A.M. Interment in Parkwood Cemetery.

NEW YORK -- It's two minutes before the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and Doreen M. Mogavero hurries to one of the Big Board's 20 trading posts to check on the stock of drug giant Merck & Co. Mogavero, chief executive of Morgavero, Lee & Co., an independent brokerage, spent much of the previous day selling 300,000 Merck shares for a large investment firm. Now, she is looking for any intelligence she can glean as to how the stock may fare - such as whether any big buyers or sellers are in the wings - so she can advise her client whether to sell more shares, or stand pat. "You can get a feel for a stock just by talking to me," Mogavero says.

Ferris Baker Watts said yesterday that two traders will be allowed to return to work while the brokerage and federal officials probe trades on behalf of a former client accused of stealing millions of dollars from investors. The two are among six top executives and traders in Baltimore and Hunt Valley who either resigned or were placed on leave in the months after the company's outside counsel and federal investigators began looking into the trading activity. Institutional traders John Belgrade and Mark LaVerghetta, who will return to work this week, helped process trades for a Cleveland man whom the Securities and Exchange Commission says took in $50 million from investors and diverted some of it to make inappropriate stock trades through accounts at Ferris and elsewhere.

Loretta Lynn will be leaving the building soon. The old album cover featuring her big hair and greatest hits is coming down from the display window at Record and Tape Traders in Catonsville, which is scheduled to close its doors for good today. The company that owns the six-store chain said the Catonsville location has been unable to make a go of it after moving last summer from its longtime site down the street to a smaller location. The news came as a disappointment to patrons accustomed to the picture window's motif of vinyl discs, concert photos and an old phonograph.