Wall Street hits record high

Domestic economics under the microscope as the US maintains record highs. Commsec report

US stocks have surged to new all-time closing highs on renewed optimism after a prominent hedge fund manager said the stock rally of 2013 still has more room to go.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 123.57 (0.82 per cent) to a record 15,215.25.

The broad-based S&P 500, also reaching a new high, added 16.57 (1.01 per cent) at 1,650.36.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 23.82 (0.69 per cent) to 3,462.61.

Analysts said there was little fresh economic news driving the gains, but pointed to bullish investor David Tepper, head of the Appaloosa Management hedge fund group, who told CNBC that the market could still go higher.

"It's hard to connect the market performance to any news," said Hugh Johnson of Hugh Johnson Advisors, who cited the Tepper comments.

"There's not a real good sign that this cycle is going to end any time soon."

Banks were among the biggest gainers. JPMorgan Chase added 1.2 per cent, Citigroup rose 2.4 per cent, Bank of America jumped 2.8 per cent and Goldman Sachs put on 3.3 per cent.

Some pharmaceutical firms also fared well. Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 3.1 per cent, Gilead Sciences added 3.3 per cent and Biogen Idec jumped 3.2 per cent.

Take-Two Interactive Software, which develops interactive entertainment, rose 0.9 per cent after reporting $299.5 million in revenues, above the $280.4 million forecast by analysts. The company pointed to an "extensive pipeline of next-generation and emerging platform titles in development."

Western Gas Partners, which owns and operates pipelines and other midstream energy assets, fell 3.5 per cent to $61.00 after pricing a new issue of 6.1 million shares at $61.18, with the proceeds aimed at paying down debt and funding its capital program.

Handbag and accessory firm Coach dipped 0.1 per cent after The Wall Street Journal reported the company is considering acquisitions.

Sony's US-traded shares shot up 9.9 per cent after The New York Times reported that activist investor Daniel Loeb had begun pushing for a breakup of the struggling Japanese electronics giant.

Bond prices dropped. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.95 per cent from 1.92 per cent late on Monday, while the 30-year jumped to 3.16 per cent from 3.13 per cent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.

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Wall Street hits record high

Domestic economics under the microscope as the US maintains record highs. Commsec report

US stocks have surged to new all-time closing highs on renewed optimism after a prominent hedge fund manager said the stock rally of 2013 still has more room to go.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 123.57 (0.82 per cent) to a record 15,215.25.

The broad-based S&P 500, also reaching a new high, added 16.57 (1.01 per cent) at 1,650.36.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 23.82 (0.69 per cent) to 3,462.61.

Analysts said there was little fresh economic news driving the gains, but pointed to bullish investor David Tepper, head of the Appaloosa Management hedge fund group, who told CNBC that the market could still go higher.

"It's hard to connect the market performance to any news," said Hugh Johnson of Hugh Johnson Advisors, who cited the Tepper comments.

"There's not a real good sign that this cycle is going to end any time soon."

Banks were among the biggest gainers. JPMorgan Chase added 1.2 per cent, Citigroup rose 2.4 per cent, Bank of America jumped 2.8 per cent and Goldman Sachs put on 3.3 per cent.

Some pharmaceutical firms also fared well. Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 3.1 per cent, Gilead Sciences added 3.3 per cent and Biogen Idec jumped 3.2 per cent.

Take-Two Interactive Software, which develops interactive entertainment, rose 0.9 per cent after reporting $299.5 million in revenues, above the $280.4 million forecast by analysts. The company pointed to an "extensive pipeline of next-generation and emerging platform titles in development."

Western Gas Partners, which owns and operates pipelines and other midstream energy assets, fell 3.5 per cent to $61.00 after pricing a new issue of 6.1 million shares at $61.18, with the proceeds aimed at paying down debt and funding its capital program.

Handbag and accessory firm Coach dipped 0.1 per cent after The Wall Street Journal reported the company is considering acquisitions.

Sony's US-traded shares shot up 9.9 per cent after The New York Times reported that activist investor Daniel Loeb had begun pushing for a breakup of the struggling Japanese electronics giant.

Bond prices dropped. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.95 per cent from 1.92 per cent late on Monday, while the 30-year jumped to 3.16 per cent from 3.13 per cent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.

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Gasp store out on the street

"For Lease" signs in the windows of the Gasp store in Chapel Street. Picture: Mark Dadswell Source: Herald Sun

CLOTHING retailer Gasp is out on the street after an unhappy landlord slapped a rental arrears notice on its former South Yarra store and moved to take possession and re-let the property.

The Chapel St Gasp outlet sparked international controversy over customer relations in 2011 when a self-proclaimed "retail superstar" shop assistant named Chris chastised a customer for her taste, saying  "have fun shopping at Supre . . . I knew you were a joke the minute you walked in," before later labelling her a "fat b----".

Chris chastised a customer for her taste

Customer Keara O'Neil wrote a formal complaint to management and received an unapologetic response, which again berated her and said "we respectfully ask that you sidestep our store".

The blistering reply later went viral before the company issued an apology three months later. The company again faced trouble last year when Australian Air Express was chasing a $16,729 unpaid courier bill.

A notice placed last month on the former Chapel St premises issued a "notice of re-entry", saying the lease was in breach and had been in arrears for more than 28 days.

A Gasp operations manager said yesterday he was unable to comment on the issue or the wider company, which includes several other store locations.

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10 mind-boggling Wall Street interview questions

How many tennis balls are there in New South Wales was a question an investment banking candidate was asked. Picture: File Source: news.com.au

• Investment bankers subjected to bizarre interview questions
• Makes you think creatively, show personality
• See 10 mind-boggling questions below

IF you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and trapped in a blender, how would you get out?

Could you weigh an elephant without using a scale, guess the number of tennis balls there are in New South Wales, or bricks on residential buildings in Shanghai?

If so, you may have what it takes to be an investment banker.

These are some of interview questions potential investment bankers are asked - they are tough, very tough, and some even border on the ridiculous.

But there's method to the madness.

According to investment banking recruiter Jason Hutchins from Anton Murray Consulting investment banks are looking to determine three things about candidates:

1.    Are you smart enough
2.    Can you handle the work

3.    Do they like you

He said that while interviewers will of course focus on candidates technical ability, commercial awareness and previous experience they will also gauge their response to one or two more obscure questions.

"For example an associate interviewing with UBS was recently asked how many tennis balls there were in New South Wales," said Mr Hutchins.

"Whilst you can't be expected to know the exact figure, interviewers want to see what approach you'll take to answering the question, and what steps you'd take to reach this number."

A similar question asked in an interview with British bank Rothschild was: Why do you think only a small portion of the population makes over $200k per year?

"Not only does this test your economic understanding and thought process but could be an opportunity to gauge political views and dare I say it, any exaggerated self-opinions," he said.

"Whilst these may seem a little left field, they are in fact vital to understanding how you'll consider the different variances involved in complex valuations," he said.

Then of course there are the banking interviews questions that sound simply ridiculous.

US giant Goldman Sachs asked the question: If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and trapped in a blender, how would you get out?

"Bankers like these types of questions, as it makes you think creatively and shows them your personality, will you just be dismissive to the question or use it as a chance to show you're not just a number cruncher and have the sense of humour and quick thinking to fit in to the team," said Mr Hutchins.

Here are 10 mind-boggling questions investment bankers have been asked:

1.    If you had five red balls that contained four red balls and those red balls contained the original five red balls, then how many sets of sets of balls would I take to have a double set of red balls of varying sizes inside each next largest red ball?
2.    How many tennis balls are there in New South Wales
3.    Why do you think only a small portion of the population makes over $200k per year?
4.    If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and trapped in a blender, how would you get out?
5.    You have 2 buckets. One full of white marbles and the other full of black marbles. How do you allocate the marbles into buckets in a way that maximizes your probability of picking 2 white ones when you pick 1 marble from each bucket?
6.    Explain to me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years.
7.    How many bricks are there in Shanghai? Consider only residential buildings
8.    How do you weigh an elephant without using a scale?
9.    Using a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself on how weird you are?
10.    And finally: You are given two eggs. You have access to a 100-story building. Eggs can be very hard or very fragile means it may break if dropped from the first floor or may not even break if dropped from 100th floor. Both eggs are identical. You need to figure out the highest floor of a 100-story building an egg can be dropped without breaking. The question is how many drops you need to make. You are allowed to break 2 eggs in the process.

Have you been asked a crazy interview question? Tell us below

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