A Bail Out For Bond Insurers, Why Not Banks? (ABK)(C)(MBI)
The head of insurance regulation in NY State is busy as a bee trying to bail out Ambac (ABK) and MBIA (MBI). According to the FT "Eric Dinallo, the New York state insurance superintendent,…
Banking, finance, and taxes
All Banking, finance, and taxes Articles
Newest first · Page 301American Express Better Than Worst Case (AXP)
American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) has posted earnings of $0.72 EPS from continuing operations on revenues of $7.364 Billion net of interest expense. We had already been warned that this quarter was going to…
Will American Express Earnings Depress Or Show Excess? (AXP)
We’va already been warned that this quarter was going to be a miserable one, but today is the awaited earnings from American Express (NYSE: AXP). As this is a DJIA component and as this…
Do The Countrywide (CFC) Bond-Holders Take Bank Of America (BAC) To Court?
As far as anyone knows, Bank of America (BAC) is buying Countrywide Financial (CFC). The CFC stock price would indicate that the market has its doubts about whether the deal will close. The groups…
Countrywide (CFC): Make Mozilo Take His Comp
Angelo Mozilo, America’s favorite CEO, the head of train-wrecked mortgage-bank Countrywide Financial (CFC) has elected to pass on his pay package. According to The Wall Street Journal, Moz "is giving up $37.5 million of…
Financial Stock Prices: A Bridge Too Far (WFC)(WB)(JPM)(CFC)(C)
As if some miracle had saved the financial system and averted a recession, shares in bank and brokerage companies moved irrationally higher last week. A case in point, Wells Fargo (WFC) moved up over…
Qatar May Take Huge Stake In Credit Suisse (CS)
Funds backed by Qatar may take a $3 billion stake in Credit Suisse (CS), another step toward sovereign funds owning a piece of almost every large financial institution in the US and Europe. Due…
Some Europe Hedge Funds On Brink Of Disaster
Up to 10 European hedge funds have suspended redemptions after investors clamoured for their cash when the managers made severe losses according to The Times of London. The paper reports that "experts warned that…
Venezuela’s Chavez Wants Money Out Of US Banks
Hugo Chavez, the mentally unstable head of Venezuela, has suggested that Latin American countries take that money out of US banks. ”We should start to bring our reserves here,” Chavez said. ”Why does that…
RiskMetrics IPO Sits In The Sweet Spot (RMG)
RiskMetrics Group, Inc. (NYSE: RMG) priced its long-awaited IPO of 14 million shares at $17.50 per share. This was actually at the low-end of the $17 to $19 range, and you can probably blame…
E*Trade Aims To Turn A Profit In 2008 (ETFC, AMTD, ETFC)
E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETC) has been the most battered and brutalized of the large discount brokers and online brokers out there. It quite frankly deserved it after the company publicly understated its gross mortgage exposure…
Goldman Sachs Values Bond Insurers (ABK, MBI, SCA)
Goldman Sachs issued an interesting note on the various bond insurers, although some of this data may have been put out yesterday. The firm is listing three scenario valuation assumptions for: Ambac Financial (NYSE:…
Societe Generale And The Lessons Of Risk Management
Years ago, in a fit of creativity, some journalist coined the term "rogue trader" to describe some manic soul who made a bunch of bad bets at a big bank and then hid the…
What Mortgage Mess? Annaly Raises Over $900 Million In Secondary (NLY, CIM)
Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) has set the price for its public offering of 51,000,000 shares of common stock at $19.25 per share. All of the shares are being offered by Annaly rather…
Cramer Calls A Bottom & Gives Play Book Picks (C, CVS, COST, GES, JCG, IBM, DD)
On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer said emphatically that the huge drop today followed by the monster rally in the same day is a classic bottoming pattern, although he thinks that the…