TVNewser is reporting that "Street Smart" anchor Lisa Murphy has left Bloomberg TV. [via TalkingBizNews]

From TVNewser:

"“Given some of the recent changes in Lisa’s personal life and the recent changes here at Bloomberg, we mutually decided this would be an appropriate time to part ways,” a Bloomberg spokesperson said. “We wish Lisa all the best.”"

Last month Bloomberg fired 30 people, TVNewser reported.

It's unclear what Murphy's future plans are.  Bloomberg has already taken down her anchor profile.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Many ingenious blogs featuring hilarious themes have been born on Tumblr. There's Texts From Hillary for the politically inclined, or Things Apple Is Worth More Than for the tech aficionados.

Now comes a blog that anyone who follows financial news is sure to understand and get a laugh out of—Strange Bloomberg Headlines.

The tumblr blog is a collection of the wackiest headlines from Bloomberg, and has been posting headlines since February this year. [h/t @kaylatausche]

It describes itself as—"Headlines always try to cram a lot of information into a small number of words, but some Bloomberg headlines are in a class of their own." No contact information or any other description is provided, so we can only guess who the curator of the blog may be.

Some recent gems listed on the site include "Kill Your Wife While Sleepwalking or Get Goldman Touch," "Mississippi Whites Not Used to Help Back Republican Aid Cutters," and "Laos Sates Culture Lust With Luang Prabang’s Papaya Body Scrubs."

Check out the other headlines at Strange Bloomberg Headlines >

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

In case you didn't already notice, Bloomberg TV's Trish Regan is pregnant.

The financial news anchor -- who started at Bloomberg TV back in January -- made the official announcement during her show "Street Smart" on Friday. [via TV Newser]

Regan and her husband already have twin daughters.  The couple is expecting their third child in July. 

It's unclear if the baby is a boy or a girl at this time.

Watch her announcement below.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

We at Clusterstock received an advertisement in the mail today featuring Jim Cramer, our favorite spastic, always-entertaining rant-filled financial journalist of CNBC's Mad Money fame.

The ad is selling Action Alert PLUS, Cramer's subscription-based financial advice service that he offers with Stephanie Link.

We'd never seen Cramer pose with anyone before, so we decided to check Link out. She's a former Prudential analyst and co-portfolio manager for this fund. She's in charge of developing their macro outlook, and putting together the fund's written analysis for  You might have caught her on CNBC or Fox News chatting with Larry Kudlow or Maria Bartiromo.

Right now, you can get a year-long subscription service for $199.95—that's a 72% discount, folks.

(click for larger photo)

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

You may remember that we've introduced you to all the women of Bloomberg before.

But since then, the network has brought in some new faces and said goodbye to some more familiar ones.

No worries though, it's still a collection of smart, talented journalists committed to giving you hard news on markets, Wall Street, politics and more.

You'll probably recognize most of these ladies, but some of them will be new to you because they cover markets in Hong Kong or Dubai. To catch them, you'd have to wake up extra early.

But maybe it's worth it...

Cristina Alesci

What she does: Alesci covers private equity and deal making for Bloomberg TV and Bloomberg News. She also writes Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Markets Magazine.

Background: Before Bloomberg Alesci worked at law firm Sidley Austin and Pfizer. She has a masters degree in journalism from NYU and completed her undergraduate education at Pace University.

Haslinda Amin

What she does: Singapore-based news correspondent and anchor.

Background: Amin also covers news throughout the day from Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent and reports from international events such as the World Economic Forum and Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings.

Willow Bay

What she does: L.A. based correspondent for Bloomberg TV.

Background: Bay is a seasoned television personality — having worked everywhere from Lifetime to ABC and CNN — as well as a published author. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in literature and received a master's degree from New York University's Stern School of Business.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

If you're an early riser like we are, then you've probably witnessed CNBC's "Squawk Box" host Joe Kernen in action from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. 

Kernen, who joined CNBC in 1991 as part of the FNN merger following a Wall Street stint, has a reputation for being one of the more outspoken hosts on the show. He's definitely not afraid to get his point across.

What you might not know about him is prior to his Wall Street and financial media careers, Kernen studied molecular, cellular and developmental biology in college and he conducted cancer research in grad school. 

Anyway, we wanted to learn more about Kernen so we passed along our Clusterstock questionnaire. Check out his responses below.  

Name: Joe Kernen.

Hometown: Cincinnati.

Birthday: January 6, 1956.

Sign: Capricorn.

Personal Motto: Free markets forever.

Where did you go to school? University of Colorado, MIT.

What was your first job? Delivering circulars.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Doctor.

What was your proudest day at work? Back in the mid 90’s when Faber and I went off script during breaking AT&T news.  The end of a scripted Squawk Box.

What was your biggest screw up at work? Assuming people would "get" a joke about Aquaman.

Favorite Book? Your Teacher Said What?!

What do you collect (by accident or design)? Cufflinks.

What can't you leave home without? Pants.

What’s sitting on your nightstand right now? A universal remote a bottle of Poland Springs and an alarm clock set for 3:30AM.

What’s your pet peeve? Slow drivers in the left lane.

Favorite place to be alone? In my car driving to work in the dark AM hours.

Favorite place/person to get advice? At home from my wife Penelope.

What do you eat for breakfast? One hard-boiled egg.

What’s your favorite way to get some exercise? Running 3 miles outside.

Who’s your best friend at work? Mark Hoffman. 

Wall Street Journal or Financial Times? Wall Street Journal.

Check out what one of Kernan's former colleagues, Trish Regan, had to say in her survey>

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Last week, we brought you The Women Of Bloomberg TV, so naturally, we couldn't leave the home of the original Money Honey out.

Since the last time we brought you a rundown of the women of CNBC, there's been a lot of change at the network.

Some of that change, we know for a fact, has upset you.

Case in point, the losses of Erin Burnett (to CNN) and Melissa Francis (to Fox News).

But not to worry, there are new faces to cheer you, and old ones to pull you through as well.

Maria Bartiromo

What she does: Host of "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo;" host and managing editor of "Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo"

Background: Bartiromo, 42, joined CNBC in 1993 after five years as a producer and assignment editor with CNN Business News. In 1995, she became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She was nicknamed the "Money Honey" in the 1990's, and  in 2007, filed to trademark the term.

Maria is arguably the most famous financial journalist in the world.

Louisa Bojesen

What she does: Co-anchors European Closing Bell and contributes to CNBC Asia and U.S.

Her background: Bojesen is known for tirelessly attending conference after conference and being a warm interviews. She's also very dedicated to climate change, and a documentary about her work has aired on CNBC.

Julia Boorstin

What she does: LA based reporter.

Background: Boorstin joined CNBC in 2006 from Fortune magazine where she was a business writer and reporter since 2000. In December 2006, Boorstin became CNBC's media and entertainment reporter working from CNBC's Los Angeles Bureau, she later moved to CNBC HQ in New Jersey.She graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in history. She was also an editor on The Daily Princetonian.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

TV Newser's Chris Ariens is reporting that Margaret Brennan is leaving Bloomberg TV. 

From TVNewser: 

Margaret Brennan, who has been with Bloomberg TV for nearly three years, is leaving the network, TVNewser has learned. Brennan joined Bloomberg from CNBC in 2009. Brennan’s departure, described as mutual, comes as the network plans changes to its morning lineup later this Spring.

Friday will be her last day hosting "In Business," according to the report. 

Here's what Brennan Tweeted shortly after the news of her depature broke. 

Here's the memo from Andrew Morse, head of US TV at Bloomberg: 

We are making some exciting changes to our morning programming this spring that will continue Bloomberg TV's evolution into a digital, multi-platform news organization.

Our new line-up will feature a strong team of players familiar to our audience, and it will continue to reshape the lines of linear television across multiple platforms.  Our goal is to create content that is accessible to the audience whenever and wherever they might want it, and that reflects the natural rhythms of the business and financial news day.

To that end, Tom Keene will anchor Surveillance at 6 am, on Bloomberg TV, WBBR radio, as well as Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg TV+ and Radio+ applications.  Tom will be joined by Sara Eisen, Scarlet Fu and Ken Prewitt.

Betty Liu will continue to anchor In the Loop at 8 am, focusing on the opening of the market day.  Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle will remain key players in our morning line-up, launching a new program at 10 am, and an ensemble cast of reporters and market analysts will anchor a market-focused round table program at noon each day.  Margaret Brennan will be leaving the network to pursue other opportunities.  We wish her the very best and thank her for her contributions to the network.

This new line-up will power Bloomberg TV's morning approach, and each program will have, at its core, a focus on meaningful digital integration, allowing us to reach more viewers than ever before.

Our business is going through a period of great change.  Our viewers demand more information and more context.  And they want it to be better and faster.  As the needs of our audience evolve, we too must evolve in order to become the most influential business and financial news network on the planet.

SEE ALSO: Here's What Bloomberg TV's Margaret Brennan Has On Her Night Stand >

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

If you're like us, you spend every day staring at multiple screens, hungry for what the news of the day is going to serve up, especially when it comes to markets.

At Bloomberg, Josh Lipton plays a huge hand in serving that news to you — he's the markets editor, responsible for what's going to be covered that day, and how.

Not only that, but lately, you may recognize Lipton's face from a few hits on TV throughout the day.

The California native started out thinking he was going to be a professor, so after graduating from Colgate in 1997, he headed to the London School of Economics. Eventually, though, he figured a masters degree in Political Theory was good enough, came back home, and attended the Columbia School of Journalism instead.

Then there were stints at Forbes and Minyanville where he learned to write for investors and traders alike. But that's in the past. What matters now are his 5:00 am wake-up calls that lead to the 10-12 hour days at Bloomberg  TV.

"We have so many resources at Bloomberg," Lipton told Business Insider. "We have Bloomberg analysts that forecast dividend changes for 7,000 securities at all times. In 2011 they had an 84% accuracy rate."

Jealous?

That resource has turned into a weekly segment with Erik Schtazker on dividend changes, and into Lipton's favorite Bloomberg command (BDVD, if you want to try it out).

Lipton started doing TV spots himself this January, when Betty Liu (of In The Loop fame) and her producer asked him to do a segment. He's been popping up consistently ever since, interviewing some of his favorite figures in economics, like Barry Knapp, Mike Darda, and Laszlo Birinyi.

"The best part of being a market nerd is reading smart strategists and finding new angles," said Lipton. "You're always learning."

Good. We're happy for you Josh, now tell us everything you know.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Next week's issue of Bloomberg Businessweek does a deep dive into Monomy Capital partners, a private equity firm. That may seem kind of random, but the point of the article is to consider 'efficiency' as the private equity industry sees it — does it create jobs, or is it a hatchet job to make money for the firm?

This is an incredibly important issue for Romney in the Presidential campaign as he touts his experience at Bain. We've heard this before.

But Bloomberg Businessweek's cover drops a clue that maybe we haven't seen it like this before — a shadowy, menacing figure holds a chainsaw covered with the words 'My Life In Private Equity' in blood red.

American Psycho much?

Check it out below (via Politico):

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Yes, this happened.

On In the Loop this morning, Bloomberg TV's resident market nerds Dominic Chu and Josh Lipton strutted their stuff on a makeshift catwalk to model Brunello Cucinelli sweaters. The fashion label just IPO'ed in Italy, and their sweaters retail for between $2,000 to $3,000.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Since we've already ran through the lovely ladies at CNBC and Bloomberg TV, we couldn't leave Fox Business Network behind.

The fledgling network, which is an offshoot of Fox News Channel, only began broadcasting in 2007, so it's the youngest of the financial news networks, but there's no short of powerhouse anchors and reporters on staff.

Most recently, they've hired away notable journalists like Melissa Francis from more established network CNBC.

So check out the ladies that make this business network work...

Tracy Byrnes

What she does: A reporter for FBN, frequently appearing on "Cashin' In," "Bulls and Bears," and "Your World With with Neil Cavuto."

Background: Byrnes has previously worked for TheStreet.com and the New York Post. She has an MBA and a background in accounting.

Source: FBN

Cheryl Casone

What she does: Anchor on FBN and hosts "Cashin' In" on Fox News.

Background: Casone has previously worked for CNN and CBS. Prior to that, Casone worked at several local TV stations. She has a degree from Northern Arizona University.

Source: FBN

Liz Claman

What she does: Anchors Countdown to the Closing Bell and After the Bell.

Background: Claman has previously worked for CNBC and several local TV stations. She won an Emmy for her work on the talk show "The Morning Exchange" at an ABC channel in Cleveland. Claman graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.

Source: FBN

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Bloomberg TV correspondent and foreign exchange expert Sara Eisen recommends converting $100 to the Polish currency, Zloties, immediately. The Polish economy has been on the upswing recently and there's definitely value to be extracted from covering $100 to Polish Zloties.

But for more practical matters, Eisen shared with personal finance site The Billfold what she spent her last $100 on. To start, she made her biggest splurge at $36 for two of her fellow Bloomberg TV journalists—

$36: After a long day at work, which starts at 4 a.m., I treated my co-workers to drinks at our local spot, Opia on 57th and Lexington: a beefeater martini (shaken forever) for Tom Keene, and a glass of sauvignon blanc for Michael McKee, my two favorite fellow wonks at Bloomberg. We like to get together for drinks to chat about the state of the global economy. I order any cocktail with ginger.

There's more: Eisen would take a cab home, stop at the grocery store to grab some popcorn and truffle oil, and order some sushi. For that though, head to the full aticle.

Read about the rest of Eisen's $100 at The Billfold >

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

"Ireland is in a death spiral" -FT

"After the November President election the U.S. is facing a fiscal cliff" -Federal Reserve staff

"Eurogeddon!" -The PolyCapitalist

On and on go the warnings of cataclysm and pending financial doom.

One frustration among some of us with economics training is with the financial collapse scare mongering that has gone on over the past several years. Technical jargon and existential risks are bandied about in frightening fashion, leaving the general, non-economically trained public with very little ability to understand what's actually happening or just how bad things could really get if say Greece leaves the Eurozone, or another country defaults, or something like this occurs.

This blog is not entirely innocent of this criticism, so this post is a brief attempt to quickly address the question of whether our global financial system is on the precipice of a financial collapse if say something 'really bad' happens in Europe?

The short answer is no.

Now before I answer that, let me clarify something very important: this post is about financial collapse and not about the extremely high levels of unemployment, which have reached approximately 50% for young people in countries such as Greece and Spain. The youth and general unemployment problems today are serious and something to be very concerned about. But this post is not about that but instead about whether another Lehman-style event could occur where the world's financial system risks implosion if say a country like Greece pulls out of the euro, the current 'bank jog' in Spain accelerates, etc.

So why isn't the risk of financial collapse as bad as some would have use believe?

For starters, we have to keep in mind that our financial world is a virtual world. Today, money is largely a set of numbers on a computer. This means that even in the most extreme scenario of financial disorder, where policymakers completely blow it and the ATMs stopped working and the stock market tanked, that everything that is real and tangible - the houses, the food that is farmed, the physical assets - none of this goes away and will all be here the next day when you wake up in the morning.

Now having said that, a financial implosion would definitely have a major impact on our lives, particularly for those with fewer resources or who are unprepared. But life will go on for nearly everyone and could actually rebound quite quickly given other historical cases. For example, Argentina began recovering within months following its utterly complete financial meltdown in 2001 even though the country achieved the relatively rare trifecta of a currency collapse, a banking crisis, and a sovereign default all at once. Iceland has had a relatively quick turnaround following its 2008 financial implosion. And other Asian countries in the late-90s also turned the corner pretty quickly following major financial crises.

In the case of Argentina, dozens of people died in Dec. 2001 riots, so I don't want to minimize the very real suffering and dislocation which comes with a financial collapse. But Argentina's experience is a far cry from the level of suffering of say a war or severe natural disaster. In short, a 'cataclysm', it was not.

A further point needs to be made about the above examples, which is that they were all relatively isolated, contained crises that did not threaten a systemic collapse. But this leads me to point number two, which is that a systemic collapse is extremely unlikely, particularly given two facts:

1. what was learned from the recent Lehman-experience in 2008 by the current crop of policymakers
2. the world's central banks, especially the Federal Reserve, still have loads of financial ammunition.

Regarding what was learned with the 2008 Lehman experience, current policymakers got a first-hand glimpse of just how interconnected the world's financial system is and how the failure of a seemingly small cog in the wheel could threaten to topple the whole system. So while yes, Greece's financial implosion could lead to a chain reaction that threatens the entire global financial system, it is utterly inconceivable in the wake of the Lehman crisis that policymakers would sit back and let that happen given what they learned and how they responded in 2008-2009.

So I hear you asking whether all our problems are solved then because central banks like the Federal Reserve are all powerful, financially speaking, and able to contain any crisis which comes its way? Over the long-term, I would say no, they are not all powerful financially. But in the short-term, meaning right now and over the next few months at least, they are all powerful financially, and here's why.

Central banks like the Fed, ECB, Bank of Japan, and Bank of England which operate fiat currencies have an extraordinary power, which is that they can create an unlimited amount of money.

'Unlimited', meaning a truly infinite amount of money? Yes

What this means is that even if, for example, all the depositors in Spain and Greece withdrew every last euro from their local banks the ECB can supply all the notes that citizens want to hide under their bed mattresses. In short, the ATMs should never, ever run out of money in a fiat money system which is being managed by competent professionals.

But earlier I alluded to the fact that even though central banks can print an unlimited amount of money that they were not in fact financially omnipotent over the long-term, so what did I mean by that?

With the magic that is the computer a central bank could literally go and create and infinite amount of money. But there are side effects with central banks creating a lot of money, namely inflation. Without getting technical, simply put inflation is a rise in prices. Hyperinflation is a very large, sudden rise in prices.

But here is the crucial point to remember: rising inflation acts as a brake on a central bank's ability to create money. In other words, a rise in inflation is perhaps the key to understanding when central banks would be constrained in any effort to bail out the financial system.

Today, most of the world's advanced economies (North America, Europe) have relatively modest inflation, meaning low single digit annual percentage increases in official measures of core inflation. And even though they would say otherwise, the central banks in these advanced countries would be more than willing to trade an increase in inflation to stem the risk of a systemic financial collapse.

So how much more inflation would central banks be willing to tolerate as a tradeoff for not risking financial collapse? As the Bank of England has demonstrated in the past couple years, inflation creeping up towards 5% is not enough of a concern to prompt a significant deviation in policy. So my guess (it is a guess) is that at the extreme central banks like the Fed could tolerate up to 10% if they perceived the risks of collapse to be great enough before they would think twice about pulling another post-Lehman style bailout of the world's financial system. And since we're still in low single digit inflation this gives the Fed a decent amount of runway to maneuver.

This room to maneuver is what is meant when it is said that the Fed, which controls the world's most important reserve currency, and other central banks still have lots of ammunition.

The existence of this ammunition is likely a factor behind why given all the current distress in Europe that the stock markets haven't fallen further. In other words, the markets expect central banks to step in and flood the financial system with money if Greece leaves the euro or a banking run accelerates. Even the supposedly hemmed in by the Germans/hard-money crowd ECB. After LTRO and all the sovereign bond debt purchases, anyone who still thinks the ECB won't step in to save the system if things go completely pear shaped by creating a lot money is living in a fantasy. And this flood of central bank money would likely be very bullish for stocks in the short-term.

Should inflation increase significantly, then the ability of central banks to rush in and save the day could be diminished. But for now, they have the power to act, and that's why (for now) a general financial collapse is not on the immediate horizon.

So in sum, if you want to understand when it might be time to get worried, keep an eye on official measures of core inflation, particularly if it starts creeping up near the 5% level as that is about the time a proper central banker will begin to twitch.

Now, in terms of how you want to position your investment portfolio given the above, the very first post on this blog just over two years ago argued for allocating some of your portfolio into gold, which is arguably the best hedge against excessive central bank money printing. Even though the price of gold has gone up significantly in the last two years this blog still stands by that recommendation for long-term investors.

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

We've been told that no one can read a balance sheet like Bloomberg TV's Scarlet Fu.

So naturally, we were intrigued.

We sent the chief markets correspondent our patented survey, and as usual we got some awesome responses. For one, she wears sneakers when she reports at the NYSE.

For more she almost cracked up on TV watching her colleague crawl on all-fours to avoid the camera. And once,  her 6 year-old kid gave his grandma a markets roundup based on the fact that "Greece has no money?"

Basically, Fu's life is funny. Check it out below:

Name: Scarlet Fu

Hometown: Scarsdale, NY (no Scarlet from Scarsdale jokes, please)

Birthday: December 21

Sign: Sagittarius

Personal Motto: This too shall pass.
Applicable to everything from financial markets to life in general.

Where did you go to school?
Wellesley College for one year before I transferred to Cornell University.

What was your first job?
My first post-college paying job was as a trainee in General Electric's Financial Management Program in Hong Kong. It's a 2-year rotation program and I started off in Appliances, where I compiled monthly reports on sales and margins. I would sit in meetings where management talked about how "we promised Jack we'd reach xx% growth this quarter" and I'd wonder, who is this Jack person?

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A hairdresser, then a writer, then a sportscaster. Funny that my current job sometimes feels like a mash up of all 3, what with resolving on-air hair issues and writing up elaborate box scores of the trading day.

What was your proudest day at work?
There’ve been so many, since I’ve worked at Bloomberg since 1997 (on the print side in Hong Kong and then in New York). Covering the Asian financial crisis that year was a big one. Then after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. markets were closed so Asia was among the first to react--I edited a lot of that coverage. I moved back to NY a year later and joined the Bloomberg TV team in 2007--just in time for the market to set its all-time high and then crash a year later.

What was your biggest screw up at work?
This was before Jon Erlichman moved to San Francisco. I was on air and he almost walked into the shot. Ever the pro, he caught himself, and then dropped to all fours to get past the cameras on set. Watching him stealthily crawl around the cameras while reading a serious story on air, I almost lost it.

Favorite Book?
Whatever I'm reading at the moment. I've just started Game of Thrones.

What do you collect (by accident or design)?
The funny things my kids say -- I write them all down in a notebook. The latest was when my 6-year old told his grandparents, "The market is down. It's because Greece has no money."

What can't you leave home without?
Comfortable shoes--beat up sneakers, flip flops, etc. Confession: when reporting from the NYSE, I’m definitely in my sneakers!

What’s sitting on your nightstand right now?
Earplugs, eyemask, vitamins, 2 bottles of water, pens, iPad, magazines.

What’s your pet peeve?
Long meetings

Favorite place to be alone?
On the Metro-North train home. I leave before rush hour starts (because I’m in at work at 4am), so it's usually a long, quiet ride.

Favorite place/person to get advice?
My mother-in-law in California. Work stuff? It’s Al Mayers, head of Bloomberg Radio.

What do you eat for breakfast?
First breakfast at 4am: instant oatmeal. Second breakfast at 8am: toasted bagel w/ butter OR leftovers from the previous night's dinner. Everyone at work has seen me carrying a plate full of pasta back to my desk before the market opens.

What’s your favorite way to get some exercise?
Ballet barre-based exercise classes. I don't like it while I'm doing it, but I like how I feel afterwards.

Do you have a nickname? If so, what is it?
Any variation on the word scar: Scar, Scarface, Scarfu

Wall Street Journal or Financial Times?
I switch between the two. For awhile, I was getting FT delivered to my house, but then that expired. Now, I have both on my iPad and phone.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

The summer slump has not hit markets yet. With everything that's going on in Europe, we're constantly staring at the TV waiting for the next shoe to drop. That means we've been seeing a lot of Bloomberg TV's Sheila Dharmarajan lately.

And that's a good thing. She's one smart cookie—Wharton undergrad, Stanford MBA, with a past career in finance.

It's no wonder her friends nicknamed her after He-Man's sidekick, the Princess of Power. We're glad she came to our side (journalism) and we're even more glad she filled out Business Insider's survey. Check it out below:

Name: Sheila Dharmarajan

Hometown: Grew up in Pittsburgh, PA (Go Steelers!), but was born in New Orleans so have a soft spot for anything Cajun.

Birthday: October 15

Sign: Libra

Personal Motto: Chance favors the prepared

Where did you go to school?
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School) for undergrad and Stanford Business School for my MBA

What was your first job?
I was a temp secretary in high school to save money for college. After college, I was investment banking analyst at DLJ.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Kinda random, but either a concert pianist or Supreme Court justice.

What was your proudest day at work?
I will never forget the first deal I closed - Charles River Laboratories - a company that amongst other things, breeds rats for laboratory testing.

But more recently for Bloomberg TV, covering the Occupy Wall Street protests while literally standing in the middle of the crowds was a very intense experience. And getting a personal email from James Cameron (of Avatar/Titanic fame) after I did an interview with him was pretty cool as well.

What was your biggest screw up at work?
Combo of breaking news and live TV means there are screw-ups all the time! But when I was covering the MF Global hearings in Washington, I remember standing in front of the camera in between hits, randomly talking to my producer, and we were still live!

Favorite Book?
Too many to name! But my standby is "To Kill A Mockingbird."

What do you collect (by accident or design)?
Magazines! I'm a big magazine reader and always have a stack sitting around in my apartment with pages thumbnailed of articles or pictures I want to revisit.

What can't you leave home without?
Mobile phone...for sure. And, flip-flops for wearing around the office.

What’s sitting on your nightstand right now?
My iPad, Kindle, vitamins, water and of course, a stack of magazines.

What’s your pet peeve?
Returning stuff I bought on the Internet...it takes me ages!

Favorite place to be alone?
Central Park - whether it's running the Loop or my walk home from work.

Favorite place/person to get advice?
My husband. No matter the situation, he's always able to bring the big picture perspective.

What do you eat for breakfast?
Usually it's coffee + cheerios and/or oatmeal. If it's a rough morning...I'll spring for an omelet + toast.

What’s your favorite way to get some exercise?
I'm a runner at heart, but have recently been trying to swim/cycle more. Finishing a triathlon is definitely on my bucket list!

Do you have a nickname?
If so, what is it? "Sheils" or "SD" are the most common. But in elementary school it was all about "She-Ra" (princess of power).

Wall Street Journal or Financial Times?
Both, but if I'm crunched for time it's the WSJ. And of course, Bloomberg!

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

A series of racy e-mails sent between Wall Street Journal reporter Gina Chon and Brett McGurk, President Obama's nominee for the ambassador to Iraq, in 2008 has been leaked to the public.

The e-mails were sent in 2008, when Chon was a Baghdad correspondent for the WSJ (she now writes for the Money & Investing section) and McGurk was an advisor on Iraq to the Bush administration. The emails highlight a flirtation that began with a dinner meeting and eventually evolved into flirtatious banter, planned dinner dates, talk of "blue balls," and a blatant reference to their first hook-up on June 23, 2008.

Chon and McGurk are now married, but the e-mails, sent from their respective wsj.com and state.gov accounts, are just plain embarrassing. The leaked exchange first appeared on flickr last week, and were then picked up by Cryptome.

"... I had a very real case of blue balls last night! I think they're still blue," McGurk wrote in one email to Chon. Then he added: "They really hurt and won't stop pouting. I may go see the nurse. :("

To which Chon shot back: "Depending on how u behave, we'll see about the nurse."

McGurk later wrote: "I did a nice self-healing exercise before dinner, btw, so the blueness has receded."

(See the whole email exchange at Cryptome >)

Aside from the fact that Chon probably committed the biggest no-no in the journalism industry by sleeping with her source, McGurk, by the way, was apparently still married when he and Chon had their rendezvous in the summer of 2008, the Washington Free Beacon is reporting.

We're not sure how this really affects McGurk's nomination—it doesn't appear McGurk divulged any actual state secrets to Chon—but Senator James Inhofe, a member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, has said he won't be considering McGurk's nomination until the e-mail exchange is cleared up, according to USA Today.

Chon will also be taking a leave of absence from the WSJ later this summer. Though it doesn't appear to be related to the recent leak—she asked for the break in March when McGurk's nomination was imminent, according to a statement the WSJ released to Gawker—it certainly is very good timing.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

At almost every financial firm across Wall Street you're likely to see CNBC, Bloomberg or Fox Business playing non-stop.  

Most of the time everything on TV goes smoothly, but every now and then one of the more colorful on-air personalities goes off script and commits a major blooper.  

Other times it's the guest or a trader in the background who gets caught in an embarrassing moment on camera.

Either way, the screw-up will most likely end up on the internet forever for the rest of us to enjoy.   

We've compiled some of our favorite on-air screw-ups and other hilarious unscripted moments from financial television.  

Former CNBC anchor turned CNN anchor Erin Burnett accidentally called Citigroup 'Sh*ttygroup.' At least, that's what it sounds like.

In 2010, Erin Burnett went on MSNBC's Morning Joe to discuss jobless claims and she started showing off the red bra Mark Haines gave to her for Christmas that functions as a 'gas mask.' It made Joe Scarborough look uncomfortable.

Here it looks like Jim Cramer is speaking into Erin Burnett's chest. He's really just trying to use her mic.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

We like to keep our eye on moving and shaking at CNBC, so when we say that the author of 'The ESPN Book,' James Andrew Miller was sending out tweets about our favorites sports reporter, Darren Rovell, our ears perked up.

According to Miller's tweets, Rovell was in talks with ESPN.

Sure enough, Rovell himself admitted that he's leaving CNBC for ESPN. He'll also be doing regular hits on ABC News.

I’m thrilled to have reached an agreement in principle with ESPN. No matter how others bash it, Bristol is truly a magical place.

— Darren rovell (@darrenrovell) June 21, 2012

I will also be doing regular business reporting for ABC News, where I will definitely be covering the food & drink biz.

— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) June 21, 2012

And now, to remember the good times on CNBC, here's a video of Darren Rovell giving Kate Upton a Valentine.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

We all know CNBC loved doing thing loud, and their fanfare around the Facebook IPO was the network in its element.

To some Morgan Stanley bankers, however, that element is part of what made the company's IPO such a disaster for small investors, The Daily News reports.

According to an insider, the bankers figure that if the network hadn't acted like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ’s entrance at the kick-off of the company’s investors road show at the Sheraton hotel was “the President’s State of the Union Address,” things would have turned out differently.

They're also calling out CNBC senior vice president and editor in chief Nik Deogun, saying he has no right to criticize the bank considering his network's converage. Specific shows played their part too.

From the Daily News:

...on May 17, the day before the actual IPO, the hosts of CNBC’s “Fast Money” appeared on camera wearing hoodies — a reference to Zuckerberg’s favorite fashion item, which came off like an homage to the baby billionaire.

That same day, controversial “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer told his viewers, who tend to be mom-and-pop investors and market-playing college students, “If you can get in on the actual IPO, then I think Facebook is a no-brainer.”

He added: “We all know this one’s going to pop like crazy on its first day of trading, so if you can get in on the deal, I think you should try to get your hands on as many shares as possible.”

When the stock went down, Cramer said it was because Facebook didn't do a good roadshow.

Obviously Morgan Stanley bankers beg to differ.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »