Posted Jun 30th 2009 12:30PM by Elizabeth Harrow
Filed under: Analyst reports, Bank of New York (BK), NASDAQ
The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) has become a minority equity investor in International Derivatives Clearing Group (IDCG), the derivatives clearing unit that's a subsidiary of Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor was the size of the stake -- but it's definitely a symbiotic pact. IDCG will use securities servicing products provided by the bank, and Bank of New York Mellon's chief executive of broker-dealer services, Art Certosimo, will join IDCG's board.
"This strategic partnership with Nasdaq OMX provides our buy side and sell side clients with a flexible platform that meets their derivatives trading, clearing and servicing needs," stated Bank of New York Mellon President Gerald Hassell. Bob Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq OMX, added that the partnership "lends support to President Obama's proposed reforms of the [over-the-counter] derivatives market."
Continue reading Bank of New York Mellon invests in Nasdaq derivatives unit
Posted Jun 11th 2009 12:45PM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Bank of New York (BK), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Analyst initiations, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)
Analyst upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's better balance sheet following capital raises. The firm raised its target on shares to $16.50.
- Merriman upgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ:BCSI) to Buy from Neutral to reflect stabilizing demand and merger synergies from the Packeteer acquisition.
- Thomas Weisel upgraded Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX) to Overweight from Market Weight based on valuation, a new colon cancer assay expected in 2010, and upside from new sales hires.
- Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
- Great Plains Energy (NYSE:GXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
- Ericsson (nASDAQ:ERIC) was upgraded at Societe Generale to Buy from Hold.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BAC, ERIC, UNH, WRC
Posted May 20th 2009 9:40AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Ford Motor (F), Market matters, Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York (BK), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this deal is hugely important -- today is the last stand for the bears. Today is make or break for the short-sellers, the SKFers, the bears on banks. I cannot stress how important the
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) (
Cramer's Take) deal is. The syndicate desk placed this stock with great hands, restricting flippers to one-fifth of their orders and giving mutual funds only about a quarter of what they wanted. Plus, given the stealth selling that BAC did ahead of this, the company seems done for now -- maybe forever -- although it can't give back TARP funds. However, it should be able to do bond financing that will put it in a good position to do so. And with the velocity of sales picking up at the same time as the new housing starts go down -- stunning figures there -- it is possible that we could see a reversal of some of Bank of America's soured loans while we see what happens with a big lender begins to get a major share of what can be a lucrative mortgage market. We might look back at BAC at $10 and say, "That was our last good chance to buy it," as there are many, many analysts set to reiterate their buys this morning.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Bank of America is now the fulcrum
Posted May 12th 2009 9:30AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Bank of New York (BK), BB and T (BBT), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Dow Chemical (DOW), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says we should closely monitor the situation as more banks raise capital with equity. What really did happen Friday? I keep thinking about this because, surely, if you saw how well the
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) (
Cramer's Take) and
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:
MS) (
Cramer's Take) deals behaved, didn't you, as a bank player, have to presume that there would be and will be more offerings?
If Wells Fargo went up 6, isn't it reasonable to presume that
Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:
BK) (
Cramer's Take),
KeyCorp (NYSE:
KEY) (
Cramer's Take),
Capital One (NYSE:
COF) (
Cramer's Take),
BB&T (NYSE:
BBT) (
Cramer's Take) and no doubt all of the others, would do the same? Who wouldn't take advantage of this?
Fifth Third (NASDAQ:
FITB) (
Cramer's Take)?
Suntrust (NYSE:
STI) (
Cramer's Take)?
Why did they rally so much?
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: A bevy of bank offerings
Posted May 7th 2009 7:40AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Earnings reports, General Motors (GM), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York (BK), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Economic data, Wells Fargo (WFC), Financial Crisis
Continue reading Before the bell: Wall Street poised for a higher start ahead of stress test
Posted Apr 17th 2009 9:30AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York (BK), Centex Corp (CTX), Wells Fargo (WFC), Housing, Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says builders have stopped, and prices have fallen to affordable levels. Housing bottoms form when homebuilders finally stop building. They come when permits dry up. They come when foreclosures are so rife that they drive down the prices to affordable levels. Housing bottoms come when the homebuilders give up and merge. They come when mortgage rates go really low. They come when unemployment claims level out.
The bottom, well, is now. We are seeing a huge wave of buying of foreclosed homes in Northern and Southern California and in Florida. The numbers are too positive to think that these, the hardest-hit areas, aren't putting in long-term bottoms. Of course, where legacy housing is coming on, most notably in Florida and Las Vegas, where lenders like
Corus Bank (NASDAQ:
CORS) (
Cramer's Take) abetted ridiculous levels of condominium construction, or New York, where the economy was on fire courtesy the brokers and the lawyers and the foreign tourists taking advantage of a cheap dollar, you are not going to get a bottom for a year. In New York's case, the building continued right through the layoffs because of tax advantages that ran out inopportunely right at the top. It will most likely be a tough market for a while.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: This is what a housing bottom looks like
Posted Mar 27th 2009 10:30AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York (BK), Amer Intl Group (AIG), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Stocks to Buy, Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if we let some banks give it back, others may rush to do so unnecessarily. Breather day? Or does this monster ever breathe?
We are seeing stress levels coming down: the magic VIX going under 40?, money coming in, industrials bouncing -- I watch
International Paper (NYSE:
IP) (
Cramer's Take),
Du Pont (NYSE:
DD) (
Cramer's Take),
Packaging Corp. (NYSE:
PKG) (
Cramer's Take) and
Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:
IR) (
Cramer's Take) for true industrial bounces. We are seeing the rails and the fertilizers -- two 2008 sectors -- regaining life and lifetime moves in a session.
But it was and is and always will be about the banks, and no matter what we do it will come back to them. They are the reason we got in trouble, and they are the reason we got out of trouble.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Keep the TARP money until things get better
Posted Mar 6th 2009 4:20PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: International markets, Good news, Management, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of New York (BK), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, U.S. Bancorp (USB)

It is being reported today in the
Business Journal that the safest bank in the United States is
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:
WFC).
According to
Global Finance, which will publish its analysis, "World's 50 Safest Banks" in its April issue, international banks dominate the rankings, which show the effects of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and credit crisis brought on by large Wall Street players. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is the top-rated U.S. bank at No. 21. European banks now dominate the rankings, with only four U.S. banks among the listing.
Continue reading Chasing Value: The safest bank in the U.S. -- Wells Fargo
Posted Feb 26th 2009 4:50PM by Alex Salkever
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York (BK), BB and T (BBT), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB)

Apparently the markets think that U.S. risk of sovereign default is steadily creeping up. Hedge fund blogger Zero Hedge puts
up the numbers here. According to the numbers from finance calculator company Markit, U.S. is a greater default risk than Japan or Germany, among others.
A default would destroy the U.S. economy and TARP recipients, in particular. The
Piqqem Sentiment on major TARP holders is more or less neutral, although the bankruptcy of the U.S. Treasury might change that, no?
Continue reading Doomsday Scenario: Could U.S. default on its national debt?
Posted Jan 23rd 2009 1:00PM by Elizabeth Harrow
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of New York (BK), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Options, NASDAQ, Financial Crisis
Options players, start placing your bailout bets: Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) announced today that it will launch options trading on its Government Relief Index (NASDAQ: QGRI) effective Monday. The 3-week old Government Relief Index was constructed to track the performance of companies that have received at least $1 billion in government funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) or similar bailout endeavors.
Since its launch on January 5, the QGRI has blazed a steady path lower, tumbling 36.8%. "When you have volatility and a direction, you start to see there's an opportunity to put a product on it that allows investors to benefit from the movement," said John Jacobs, Nasdaq's executive vice president, in comments to Reuters. (Is it just me, or is Mr. Jacobs subtly recommending put options on the Bailout Bunch?)
If you do decide to take a speculative gamble on the slipping Government Relief Index, you'll be wagering on such high-profile bailout names as Citigroup (NYSE: C), General Motors (NYSE: GM), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), and Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS). Overall, it looks like the QGRI might be traders' best opportunity to turn a profit on their steadily depreciating taxpayer investments. How's that for cold comfort?
Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.
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