Indevus Pharmaceuticals (IDEV) Bad news on drug trial. Falls to $1.21 from 52-week high of $8.22. Ambac (ABK) Possible downgrade by Moody’s. Drops to $2.45 from 52-week high of $89.33. MBIA (MBI)…
Standard & Poor’s has come out with a report that is actually weighing down on the entire market even though it is sector specific. The ratings agency has cut ratings on several…
Billions of dollars in losses and a falling stock price can cost a CEO his job. Wachovia (WB) announced today that its current Chairman, Lanty Smith, has been appointed interim Chief Executive…
Oppenheimer now puts out a negative report on banks stocks every other day, like clock work. Today’s reports says that money center financial firms "may write off more than $170 billion of…
Banks will post much better earnings as the year goes on. Most of their write-offs are behind them. What else is there on their balance sheets to revise down in value? That…
A series of lawsuits against the board and management of Countrywide (CFC) accuses them of insider trading and not being careful enough in regulating the firm’s lending practices. As is the wont…
Douglas A. McIntyre According to Reuters, UBS (UBS) will cut 5,500 jobs. The company is also selling $15 billion in subprime mortgage paper to Blackrock. Reuters writes that Bernanke says that high foreclosure rates are…
One of the interesting by-products of S&P cutting Countrywide’s (CFC) debt to junk is that Bank of America (BAC) may be frightened witless now about taking over the mortgage banker. According to…
Douglas A. McIntyre Bond-holders who own debt in Countrywide (CFC) have assume that Bank of America (BAC) would take those obligations on and that they would get paid out. Maybe not. According to Bloomberg. “There…
Douglas A. McIntyre The FBI appears to have uncovered some fraud in lending practices at Countrywide (CFC) and now the question is whether management knew. As Captain Renault said in a scene in Casablanca "I’m…
Douglas A. McIntyre Consumers and businesses are faced with two difficult problems as a result of major banks taking huge write-offs. The first is that, even though the Fed is chopping rates, lower interest loans…
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will raise as much as $24 billion to bolster its capital position, a dubious record which US banks will not want to match anytime soon. The big…
The mid-month reports on short interest in NYSE shares showed that many short sellers moved out of big financial stocks but made large bets against airlines and auto companies. With the prices…
According to Reuters, National City (NCC) will raise as much as $7 billion. Reuters writes that Viacom (VIA) will launch a pay TV channel to compete with Time Warner’s (TWX) HBO. Its…
Wall St. wanted some sign that the the recession might not be pulling the economy under for the next four or five quarters. Some investors still have hopes that the downturn will…
