Posted Jun 8th 2009 10:10AM by Mark Fightmaster
Filed under: JPMorgan Chase (JPM), American Express (AXP), BB and T (BBT), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Financial Crisis
This morning, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected announce that some banks will be allowed to
repay the money lent to them under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Some of the banks expected to receive approval are
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:
GS),
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:
JPM),
American Express (NYSE:
AXP),
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:
MS),
State Street (NYSE:
STT) and
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:
USB). All of these banks have expressed interest in repaying the government.
What is interesting is that there will be yet another Czar joining the White House, a "Repayment Czar," (what is the deal with the media's fascination with Russian royalty?) or as the administration will call the position, the "
Special Master for Compensation."
Continue reading Fed to okay TARP repayment for some banks, appoint a Pay Czar
Posted May 21st 2009 10:10AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: General Motors (GM), China, Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Commodities, Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB), Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says commodities don't tell the real story -- look at wages and prices of finished goods. Commodity inflation is not real inflation. Commodity inflation is China- and speculation-driven inflation of imperfect commodities by fearful or greedy customers and traders.
Yet "inflation" is on everyone's lips as if the plummeting prices of cars and homes and wages don't even matter. You read about the not-even-nascent recoveries in countries like those in Eastern Europe or Mexico or Germany, and you have to wonder whether we need to be as fearful of the price of copper as we are. If you own
GM (NYSE:
GM) (
Cramer's Take) bonds, you are not experiencing inflation, and believe me -- there are more GM bonds being bought than there is of the red metal.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: It's still not inflation
Posted Apr 22nd 2009 9:50AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Earnings reports, Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Boeing Co (BA), TD AmeriTrade Holding (AMTD), United Technologies (UTX), Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB)
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says a few calls Tuesday show the positives in this market. So many conference calls, so little time to really assess what the heck was happening when it was happening. Nevertheless, a few calls pretty much defined the positive action, and they have to be highlighted.
First, the
TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:
AMTD) (
Cramer's Take) call showed you what I have been looking for: renewed interest in the stock market by retail people trying to make money off the wild swings and the exchange-traded funds. I am no fan of the ETFs, but I am a fan of new people in the game, and Ameritrade confirmed what I was thinking could be happening: actual interest in stocks at the new lower levels. It's a positive -- not a huge positive, but a positive nonetheless.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Notable battles won by the bulls
Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:50AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Politics, Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB), Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says more banks will be nationalized, but what matters is that we have a few that won't be. Noriel Roubini, the New York University professor intoxicated with his prescience and vision, comes out with the astounding view that "some" U.S. banks will be nationalized. Forget that we have had one of the largest rallies in history since the oracle of Greenwich Village spoke last.
What I think matters is that I don't know anyone who would disagree with him. It is obvious that more banks will be nationalized. What has mattered since the beginning of this crisis is that we have a few banks that are not going to be nationalized. Since the last time Roubini spoke, we have had about a 75% increase in the KBW Bank Index, which I regard as being breathing room to create some banks that will be able to absorb the banks that are faltering. If that is nationalization, so be it. The other banks may be not big enough to worry about and can be absorbed by the FDIC. If that is nationalization, so be it.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Banks finally get a little breathing room
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 Feb 18th 2009 9:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Market matters, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Tiffany and Co (TIF), ConocoPhillips (COP), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Procter and Gamble (PG), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB)
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says Buffett's now putting a terminal value on something we thought we were to hold forever. Struggling. I'm struggling this morning with some of the things that Warren Buffett is doing with his cash these days. I am struggling because he is selling America, selling
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:
JNJ) (
Cramer's Take) and
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:
PG) (
Cramer's Take), selling
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:
COP) (
Cramer's Take) and selling
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:
USB) (
Cramer's Take).
What's more American than these stocks? These are not small trimmings. He sold more than half of his 52 million shares of Johnson & Johnson and he sold it at a 20-year low relative to its yield. That doesn't sound like "Buy America." That sounds like "Sell America." Yet, on Oct. 16, 2008, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 9000 and the S&P 500 at 950, Buffett penned a now-famous op-ed submission to The New York Times saying it was time to buy America. Those who bought America that day are feeling ... well, downright un-American. Or at least they're feeling poorer.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Buffett sells America
Posted Feb 6th 2009 9:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB), Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says by not establishing strong, viable banks, the Treasury has created nothing but losers. Where are the bank mergers? What happened here? Where is the administration saying that if you want more capital or you are out of capital, we are not going to cap your salary, we are going to give you to someone who is more restrained and was less reckless?
One of my hopes for the new administration was that it would recognize that there were some banks that were strong:
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:
JPM) (
Cramer's Take),
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) (
Cramer's Take),
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:
USB) (
Cramer's Take),
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) (
Cramer's Take), and
PNC Financial (NYSE:
PNC) (
Cramer's Take). What Treasury should have done is ring-fence the strong ones and let them take the deposits of the weak ones and let the FDIC stop them out or take over the bad loans of the seized banks.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: In need of strong banks to eat the weak
Posted Jan 28th 2009 9:45AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB), Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says financials will ramp, but don't bet on unending strength. Since the beginning of the year, the shorts have leaned on the bank group in endless fashion. Data I have shows that on an average day, 40% to 50% of trading in
JPMorgan (NYSE:
JPM) (
Cramer's Take),
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) (
Cramer's Take),
Citigroup (NYSE:
C) (
Cramer's Take),
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:
USB) (
Cramer's Take) is short. Much of that short selling comes from ETFs, which almost always overwhelm the regular trading volume, as I and Eric Oberg have pointed out almost daily.
Now a large part of it is the daytrading
ProShares UltraBear Financials (NYSE:
SKF) (
Cramer's Take), a ridiculous instrument that allows daily bets on sectors as if they were ponies, and once the race/session is over you are done.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: How to play the coming 'bad bank' rally
Posted Jan 26th 2009 1:10PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Magazines, Rants and raves, General Electric (GE), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), American Express (AXP), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), U.S. Bancorp (USB)
When you're at the top of your game you get a lot of attention and Warren Buffett was the focus of a
Barron's story this week titled
Warren's Unhappy New Year (subscription required).
The article points out that
'my pal Warren' has been overly optimistic about his financial holdings:
American Express (NYSE:
AXP),
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:
USB) and
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC).
All three companies have been hit hard the last few weeks, bringing down
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:
BRK.A). Last week, USB and WFC were trading about 50% off the year-end prices.
Does it make sense for
Barron's to do a write-up about a turn of events over a three week period given a 50-year track record?
Surely you jest Andrew Barry.
Continue reading Can Buffett have a lousy month?
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Before the bell: Futures decline as oil falls sharply; GM's bankruptcy plan approved
Entrepreneur's Journal: Key steps for telesales success
The week in preview: Focus returns to earnings: Alcoa, Chevron, Family Dollar
