Elizabeth Warren launches offensive on SEC Chair Mary Jo White

Yahoo Finance

Stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are up modestly at the midday mark after surging early this morning on JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo beats on their earnings expectations. The financial (XLF) and tech sectors (XLK) are leading, while utilities (XLU) and energy (XLE) are the most in the red. Rich Barry, floor governor at the New York Stock Exchange joins us live for more.

To discuss the other big stories of the day, Alexis Christoforous is joined by Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer and Yahoo Finance’s Nicole Sinclair.

Wells Fargo reports sharp drop in new accounts

Yahoo Finance digs into the Wells Fargo earnings report a little more. The bank saw a sharp drop in new accounts in September, during the time the it made headlines for defrauding its customers. How bad is the fallout from the scandal?

Warren wants Obama to fire SEC Chair Mary Jo White

Here’s another story that involves Elizabeth Warren trying to push someone out of a job: Warren wants President Barack Obama to dismiss Security and Exchange Committee chair Mary Jo White. Warren sent the president a 12-page letter saying the only way to return the SEC to its “intended purpose” is to change leadership of the market regulator. Among Warren’s biggest beefs with the SEC chair is White’s decision not to draft a rule requiring public companies to disclose their political spending.

Japan’s Softbank creating massive tech fund with Saudis

A Japanese telecom giant is teaming up with Saudi Arabia to create a huge fund to invest in technology. Japan’s Softbank Group will pump in at least $25 billion over the next five years, while the Saudi sovereign wealth fund invests $45 billion. Softbank says the fund could reach $100 billion in the next decade, making it the world’s largest technology investor. Softbank’s tech investments include Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and the US wireless phone carrier Sprint.