By Patrick Clark 10/29/12 7:51am

considering sandy

NYSESecurity

On Second Thought, Stock Exchanges Closed for Storm

In the end, U.S. stock markets decided to heed the storm.

The New York Stock Exchange had planned to open trading electronically while shuttering its physical trading floor. “We are open for business and at the same time acting in accordance with actions taken by the city and state of New York,” said NYSE CEO Duncan L. Niederauer said in a release yesterday afternoon.

But NYSE reversed course  last night, announcing it would halt operations completely. The exchange is closed today, and may close tomorrow, “pending confirmation,” according to a release.

Nasdaq is also closed today; “it is likely that the markets will be closed” tomorrow, the exchange said in a release.

Bond markets will open, but the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association recommended that markets close at noon today. Read More

By Benjamin-Emile Le Hay 9/12/12 5:00pm

Fashion Week

Nina Agdal, Max Azria, Lubov Azria in Hervé Léger, Dania Ramirez and Rico Love are all smiles at The Boom Boom Room.

Lubov Azria Dishes on Backstage Model Drama and Hosts Boisterous Party for Hervé Léger

Rebecca Taylor was not at Lincoln Center. Had we not been slammed with events, emails, editorial projects, tweets and social babysitting of our entourage, we would have easily noted this. Rebecca Taylor was scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday at Highline Studios Downtown. Yet we had eagerly arrived at the Mercedes-Benz complex, bewildered and irritated. Read More

By Benjamin-Emile Le Hay 9/10/12 10:00pm

Fashion Week

The atmosphere of American Express Skybox. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for American Express)

Taking a Break Behind-the-Scenes Backstage with American Express

“We like that you feel a little chaotic and it’s all very well planned,” explained a representative from American Express. “This is an opportunity for us to give back to our premium card members who are passionate and we are giving them a very immersive experience, as you can see, with the models running around.”

Cardmembers are spoiled with backstage tours, coups de Champagne and a gourmet spread worthy of a sultan.

“They get rushed into a show right as it is about to begin and then the best part is that after the show they get to come back into the studio and the designer comes in for a Q&A,” we were informed by one of our hosts.

The Observer threw back a few a glasses in the sun-lit salon that had been tastefully decorated with cozy loungers and a private hair salon replete with stylists, before we were ushered to the front-row of Cushnie et Ochs’s runway presentation last Friday. Read More

By Patrick Clark 9/04/12 7:45am

Morning Read

New York AG Probes Private Equity Tax Practice; Pointing the Finger at Facebook Exec: Roundup

If you missed it over the weekend, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating the tax practices of private equity firms. At the center of the inquiry is the practice of converting management fees into investments that are taxed at more favorable rates. The private equity industry says such conversions are widely practiced and accepted; here’s a tax lawyer who says they’re illegal. Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/22/12 1:45pm

The Past

Winner! Congregation Beth Elohim Will Get New Windows (congregationbethelohim.org)

Brooklyn and Bronx Historic Sites Win Citywide Popularity Contest

In a competition for preservation cash, four historic sites have proved themselves most beloved—at least among the social media savvy—netting the most popular votes in a battle that spanned five boroughs and 40 historic sites.

Two of the winners—the Brooklyn Public Library and Congregation Beth Elohim—are in Park Slope, which is quite a coup, especially coming on the heels of the much-expanded historic district, for the neighborhood that everyone loves to hate. Read More

By Patrick Clark 5/08/12 6:12pm

Sunny Disposition

deficits don't matter

DoubleLine’s Gundlach Busting on Credit Card Slogans and Just About Everything Else

Jeffrey Gundlach hosted a web presentation this afternoon, sparing no amount of bad wordplay to skewer credit card slogans and borrowers alike. There was a point to the talk—perhaps simply to contradict Dick Cheney’s 2002 assertion that “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter”—but we were caught up in Gundlach’s masterful roiling of the sloganeers that Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/26/12 12:31pm

Making History

(Amex Foundation)

Vote for Your Favorite New York City Landmark and It Might Win $3 M.

It’s the battle of the brownstones, balustrades and bulkheads!

Forty New York City landmarks across all five boroughs are vying for a $3 million prize courtesy the American Express Foundation. From today through May 21, anyone can visit Parnters in Preservation and vote for sites ranging from the Coney Island carousel to the Lower East Side’s Tenement Museum to the Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center in the Bronx. Read More

By Drew Grant 2/12/12 7:12pm

Fashion Week Observed

Geoffrey Mac's show at Exit Art

West Side Runway: Sunday Morning Fashion Week at Milk Studios and Exit Art

There’s something refreshing about going “downtown” for a brunchy fashion show. Sorry, did we say refreshing? We meant exhausting: It’s Sunday morning and all we want to do is sleep in, but designers wait for no man. Well, actually they will wait approximately 30 minutes from their start time as a general rule, which gives us enough time to bustle our cold tushes to Made at Milk Studios, where we witnessed the somewhat bondage-y outfits from Kevork Kiledjian, the Parisian designer who earned his own T Magazine profile last season when he announced he’d be coming out with a line for women. Read More

By Kat Stoeffel 6/13/11 9:22am

The Schmear

tempest

Morning Roundup: O Brave New Media!

That has such monetization strategies in it!

AOL struck a deal with American Express to use Serve, which is AmEx’s competitor to PayPal, on Patch Deals, which is Patch’s competitor to Groupon, according to a press release sent out this morning. And we bet their user-feedback is much more advanced than the originals.

Hearst magazine websites Read More