Anthony Kennedy Has a Lot of Thinking to DoThe Supreme Court case over a baker who wouldn’t sell to a gay couple will come down to him. His questions in the case suggest a conflicted man.
Breaking: Banks, Bankers Make a Lot of MoneyToday’s big news in the city’s big businesses.
FINANCE
• J.P. Morgan had a very good fourth quarter, but is $4.53 billion enough to top Citigroup? Answer on Friday. [DealBreaker]
• Projected versus actual 2006 Wall Street bonuses. Either way, they were big. [BankersBall]
• Taking a cue from its bonus-giddy brokers, Bear Stearns looks to invest in some Manhattan real estate. [NYO via DealBook/NYT]
the morning line
We’ve Got a Lot of What It Takes to Get Along
• We’ve been good little New Yorkers, and we’re getting a $1 billion tax cut. Mayor Bloomberg has unveiled his talking points for tonight’s State of the City address, and an upbeat bunch they are: a booming economy, a $2 billion surplus, and his own 75 percent approval rating. [amNY]
• Barack Obama is officially in the running for ‘08, and the Post picks the unusually restrained “Barack Is On Track” while the News goes nearly incomprehensible with “Hil Better Not Look Barack.” [NYP, NYDN]
• A lawyer is suing Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the city’s most prominent law firms, for discriminating against him because he was gay and retaliating when he lodged an internal sexual-harassment complaint. What is this, 1993? [NYP]
• Naomi Campbell pleaded guilty to throwing a cell phone at her maid. The move resulted in a sentence of five days of community service, which Campbell will eventually get around to (after fashion shows in “California, Brazil, London, Paris and Milan.”) [NYT]
• And in another celebrity-justice vignette, Jerry Seinfeld was ordered to pay $100,000 to his real-estate broker, whom he stiffed after she refused to give him a house tour on Shabbat. Strange, this sounds like more of a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. [Newsday]