Can’t-miss stories from the web

Charges against a Bristol-Myers Squibb executive look set to become a case study in how to get busted while insider trading. U.S. federal prosecutors say he not only bought options on companies his employer was targeting for acquisition in his own name, he also left his browser’s search history intact, including the phrase ”can stock option be traced to purchase inside trading.”

BoC to synch rate moves, quarterly reports
Starting in 2013, the Bank of Canada will publish its quarterly Monetary Policy Report on the same day as its interest rate decisions.

How much gold does the New York Fed actually have?
An ongoing audit will tell us soon enough.

Think Obama’s a socialist? Meet Francois Hollande
France’s newly elected socialist president is set to impose a 75 per cent tax rate on people earning more than $1.23-million per year.

Buffett bets on U.S. housing
Whether “lucky, smart or patriotic”, Warren Buffett passed on European businesses and sunk a fortune into companies tied to the U.S. housing market. And it’s paying off handsomely.

Drop the “net benefit” test already
Snubbing Australia on the BHP/Potash deal was easy, because Australia isn’t important to Canada, says Rotman School of Management’s Roger Martin. China, on the other hand, is very important. In light of the CNOOC/Nexen deal, Mr. Martin says Canada should put the charade of the “net benefit” test out of its misery and demand reciprocity from China.

July was a spectacular month
It was the only month in the last 400 in which European stocks, the German 10-year bund and gold rallied by more than 2.5 per cent.