Archive for the 'Banking' Category
Option update: Volatility indexes spike as fairness markets sell off
Volatility Index S&P 500 Options: VIX up 3.30 to 27.90.
Volatility Index NASDAQ 100: VXN up 2.55 to 30.05.
Financial choose Sector: XLF March volatility at 51; 26-week average is 34.
Option volume leaders nowadays were: Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE: WM), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), M…
Bernanke delivers more naughty news, wants “vigorous response” to crisis
Oh man, the news coming from the Fed seems to get worse and worse. On a day when financials like Citigroup (NYSE: C) continue to weaken — Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) reduced Citi’s outlook — Fed head Ben Bernanke sends the market indication that we are not yet approach the end of the mortgage de…
Ambac rescue plan raises questions
Yesterday I posted on how a detail-free rumor of a plan to preserve bond insurer Ambac Financial Group’s (NYSE: ABK) had bailed out the market. Based on new details reported that dawn, I wonder who will pay the price for all the poor decisions that Ambac made: Will that price be shifted to the banks…
Blackstone: The next big investment bank?
The stock price of Blackstone (NYSE: BX) continues to languish, shut to an all-time low. No doubt, Wall Street knows that the private fairness game has gone into a deep freeze.
Yet Blackstone has been around since the 1980s and certainly understands how to deal with market cycles. Right now, …
Students loan rates could rise as credit crunch hits student loan-backed bonds
Undergrad and graduate students may soon be feeling the pinch of the subprime mortgage default-induced credit crunch.
Securities tied to student loans have losed out to generate investors’ interest, leaving roughly $3 billion in a sort of limbo, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (subsc…
Major banks announce new plan to cut home foreclosures
Bank of America, Citigroup and other major U.S. banks and lenders announced Tuesday a revised plan to help some borrowers in danger of default remain in their homes.
Encouraged by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the banks will offer a 30-day freeze on foreclosures while loan modificati…
Citigroup gets tough on UK borrowers
According to the Wall Street Journal, the bank’s Egg subsid…
Shareholder says Countrywide buyout is inadeqaute
The SRM Global Master Fund LP has acquired a 5.2% stake in Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), and wrote in a 13-D filing that it believes that Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) deal to acquire the company is inadequate: “Based on publicly available data, the Reporting Persons are of the view that th…
Bank of America: New Financial Leader?
So Wall Street finally got a peak that wee hours at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)’s fourth quarter earnings, and guess what? Bank of America missed, reporting 5 cents earnings per share versus the 18 cents estimate. Frankly, I’m glad BAC missed. Why? considering Bank of America looked at everything on…
Sandy Weill spins Citi
BusinessWeek interviewed former Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) CEO Sandy Weill about a range of topics regarding Citi’s performance and prospects as well as its efforts to raise capital. He defends the complex commerce structure he created and declines to reveal how much he invested in its latest roun…
Can you profit from the collapsing consumer?
Today’s Wall Street Journal [subscription required] profiled John Paulson who made about $3 billion in 2007 shorting subprime mortgages. He thinks there’s still money to be made betting on problems for consumer finance companies that issue credit card or automobile loans.
I mentioned the risk…
I helped Bank of America buy Countrywide — Where’s my bonus?
Fortune’s Allan Sloan explains how taxpayers will help pay for Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC)’s acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) in a column on Fortune.com.
Basically, the robustly profitable (those overdraft fees have to go somewhere!) BofA will be able t…
Will Countrywide’s legal snags sour Bank of America’s buyout?
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) may have scored a shot at big tax savings with its acquisition of Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), but it may additionally have acquired a liability to go along with it.
Like a lot of other subprime lenders, Countrywide’s commerce practices are under a lot scruti…
Earnings expectations for 10 banks tell a mixed story
The earnings of 10 banks expected to report in the next week propose that while most banks will manufacture money — four will manufacture more than final year, three will assemble less — three others will be unprofitable.
Here are the top performers based on how much more they’re expected t…
