After being downgraded by Moody's, The Wall Street Journal reported that MBIA Inc (NYSE: MBI) will have to make $2.9 billion in termination payments and put up an additional $4.5 billion in collateral on agreements called Guaranteed Investment Contracts. As a result the firm is selling municipal bonds to raise cash.
Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc (NYSE: BUD) introduced a new business plan to help thwart a takeover by rival InBev. As part of its plan, The Wall Street Journal reported its intention to reduce headcount, raise prices and buy back more of its shares.
In an attempt to withstand the economic slowdown, the Financial Times reported that Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) announced plans to cut 17,200 jobs worldwide. Approximately 6,400 job cuts will be in Germany with a third more, elsewhere in Europe.
The Financial Times also reported that Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) is planning to change its bonus system for hundreds of its top managers, in an attempt to increase cooperation and reduce competition within the company.
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John Varley, the CEO of Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS), said the GBP4.5B rights issue answered naysayers, and said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that extra financing will not be necessary.
It may all be doom and gloom in the U.S., but the heads of two of Europe's largest banks believe that the economy is over the worst of it.
The head of France's biggest listed bank, BNP Paribas, told Italy's La Repplica newspaper, "The worst should be over and I think that from the second half onwards the crisis should normalize: that is, the phase of exceptional turbulence on the markets should end."
Over the the UK, the news was nearly as good. The head of Barclays (NYSE: BCS), the biggest bank in the UK said that the 4.5 billion pounds the bank had raised was adequate to get it though the crisis, according to The Telegraph.
Both men may be bank CEOs, but they may be wrong. A growing number of analysts see bank and brokerage earnings getting worse in the second quarter and even into the second half of the year. The primary reasons behind growing financial company balance sheet problems, especially the mortgage crisis and LBO loans, may be becoming more troubled and not less.
If the economy tips into a deep recession, banks will find themselves further damaged by loans from every sector going into default. That means more write-offs, which means more raising of capital and further shareholder dilution.
CEOs at big banks were singing the same tune in May. It turned out not to be true.
Barclays (NYSE:BCS) become the most recent bank to raise billions of dollars, bring in $8.8 billion from investors including the sovereign funds in Qatar and Singapore.
"Through our capital raising ... we strengthen our capital base and give ourselves additional resources to pursue our strategy of growth through earnings diversification," Barclays Chief Executive John Varley said, according toThe Wall Street Journal.
That is a nice way to say the bank was running out of money.
The news says more about the future than it does the past. A bank as large as Barclays would not raise such a large sum if it believed the credit crisis was largely over. The firm clearly expects more fall-out from mortgage-related paper and LBO loans. Why else dilute the shareholders?
At least the fact that large funds will still put money into banks is good news.
If the tea leaves from the bank's actions are correct, the opinion among many Wall Street analysts that the financial crisis will extend into next year is right.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
As Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH) is about to report a second quarter loss of about $2B, the firm is closing in on raising over $5B in new capital, the Wall Street Journal reported. Once source of Lehman's new funding is reportedly the New Jersey Division of Investment.
The Financial Times reported that General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal and British private equity firm GMT Communications Partners are expected to soon acquire Bigpoint, a German-based computer games website.
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According to the Independent, the credit crunch has cost the jobs of about 100 bankers at Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS). The bank cut about 20 individuals on the leveraged finance team and will reportedly cut 80 more in investment banking and IT support.
H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) is today expected to increase its sales and profit projections for the next two years, as it reports results of its fiscal year ended April 30. The Wall Street Journal reported that sales are to grow 6% or higher from 4%, while earnings per share growth for the next two years is projected to grow between 8% and 11% from the earlier projection of 7% to 9%.
It appears that Vistaprint Limited (NASDAQ: VPRT), a graphic design services and printed products company, counts on referral fees from pop up rewards programs on it website for a certain amount of its revenue and profit and also relies on the referral of its customers to outside firms offering rewards programs, which turns out to be a monthly fee for services such as discounts on movies and amusement parks, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street". Some believe the stock, whose shares have plummeted over concerns of slowing revenue and slimmer gross margins, may be trading too high for its own good.
According to people familiar with their plans, the Financial Times reported that the CEOs of UAL Corporation's (NASDAQ: UAUA) United Airlines and US Airways Group (NYSE: LCC) will today meet to discuss the carriers' potential merger agreement.
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The Independent reported that for the second time this month, Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) revised lower its calculation of analysts' consensus for its full-year profit, cutting its 2008 figure by nearly 8% to GBP5.876B pre-tax; Barclays cut the calculation 15% two weeks ago.
Last December Chemtura Corporation (NYSE: CEM), a specialty chemicals company with a market cap of about $1.9B, said it might sell itself, and now The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) and Apollo Management are in talks to buy the company, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In part one of a series to help explain the reasons why The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC) collapsed, the Wall Street Journal said that the troubled firm was torn apart by executives who couldn't agree on what course to take, including raising capital and slicing mortgage and related bonds from its inventory. And each of about six attempts to raise capital fell part.
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The American investor and Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) chief Warren Buffett said the United States is already in a recession that is deeper and will last longer than the public expects, the Economic Times reported.
According to the Telegraph, Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) is planning to sell Barclays Life Assurance Company, its life assurance arm, which has over GBP7B of funds under management. Sources believe potential bidders for the unit may include Pearl, Swiss Reinsurance Company (OTC: SWCEY), General Re, Canada Life and XL Re. Market commentators believe that on an embedded value basis, the unit is currently valued at around GBP1B.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a federal judge said that the government had "sufficient evidence" for a jury to conclude that a conspiracy to fraudulently boost the financials of American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) began with former CEO Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg. That led to a transaction that artificially inflated AIG's loss reserves.
Citigroup Incorporated's (NYSE: C) Falcon Strategies fixed income hedge fund is down 75%, the Wall Street Journal reported, bad news for the three U.S. banks that invested in it to help increase returns on employee life insurance. One of the banks, Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), is suing Transamerica Life and Smith Barney, both of whom helped to arrange the investment, and some are now questioning whether Citigroup will be forced to give back some of the investments as they have with individual investors.
After it stopped offering some mortgages last month because it was swamped by volumes of new applications, the Financial Times reported that First Direct, a unit of HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC), has resumed lending to new customers. The bank said it has continued to receive "significant interest" in its mortgages from existing customers.
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In an effort to raise capital from shareholders, the Telegraph reported that Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) is considering a takeover bid for a rival in the U.S. or UK. Sources believe Barclays may attempt to acquire an investment bank, a struggling bank or a deal in a fast-moving economy. Potential names mentioned include UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH).
Barclay's (NYSE: BCS) stock is falling today after the company announced a 1.1B GBP loss for Q1, including a 1.7B GBP charge, mostly related to write-downs of credit market losses. The company also did not announce rights issue to raise capital, which has surprised analysts. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BCS.
After hitting a one-year high of $61.55 in July, the stock hit a one-year low of $31.31 in March. This morning, BCS opened at $32.44. So far today the stock has hit a low of $32.35 and a high of $33.17. As of 12:25, BCS is trading at $32.97, down 0.34 (-1.0%). The chart for BCS looks bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a September bear-call credit spread above the $40 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 7.5% return in four months as long as BCS is below $40 at September expiration. Barclays would have to rise by more than 21% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
BCS hasn't been above $40 by more than a little bit since January and has shown resistance around $37 recently. This trade could be risky if the financial markets execute a turnaround, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance BCS might find at $40, where the stock has topped out twice int he past two months.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in BCS.
Jarrett Lilien, E-Trade Financial Corporation's (NASDAQ: ETFC) president and COO, who lost out on the CEO job last month to Donald Layton, is going to resign from the online brokerage firm, the Wall Street Journal reported; Layton doesn't plan to fill the position.
Chinese Internet search firm Baidu.com Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) is poised for aggressive growth but must also confront a number of obstacles, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard in Asia," including a number of lawsuits regarding its music services and a vacancy in the CFO position.
Alibaba Group, a Chinese Internet company , is in advanced talks with investors to finance its acquisition of Yahoo! Inc's (NASDAQ: YHOO) stake to expand its management independence, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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According to inside sources, the New York Post reported that billionaire Joseph Lewis and former Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC) CEO Jimmy Cayne are looking for a white knight that could surpass JPMorgan Chase & Co's (NYSE: JPM) takeover offer for Bear Lewis and Cayne have reportedly reached out to several private equity firms and overseas banks, including Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) and Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS).
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Medical supplies boss Michael Mastromarino, accused of stealing the body parts of around 1,000 corpses, has pleaded guilty to several charges in a deal with prosecutors. The BBC News reported that the Biomedical Tissue Services company shipped bones, skin and tendons to tissue-processing companies such as LifeCell Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFC) and Tutogen Medical Inc (AMEX: TTG), which are in turn facing hundreds of civil lawsuits.
Barclays (NYSE: BCS) claims in its lawsuit filed yesterday against Bear Stearns Asset Management (BSAM) and other related parties that the "BSAM Defendants concealed the fund's falling net asset value ("NAV") from Barclays and investors in the related feeder funds ... This cover-up and failure to respond in accordance with BSAM's fiduciary duties to Barclays only caused greater losses and a more spectacular collapse of the Enhanced Fund."
Barclays also claims that Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), as part of this cover-up, tried to save its skin by making plans to sell another investment, Everquest IPO, to "improperly offload poor quality CDOs" and thereby "to offload its risk to the public." It calls the BSAM portfolios "dumping grounds for toxic assets, including many Bear Stearns-related assets."
As you read the lawsuit, you get an upfront and personal look at the behind-the-scenes dealings of CDOs and how little was truly known about their values. Barclays insists that they were promised the portfolio for their leverage investment would not include the risky investment vehicles that ultimately imploded in this portfolio in May. The lawsuit includes an extensive set of "Investment Guidelines" that were signed, spelling out the level of risk Barclays would accept.
A Bear Stearns spokeswoman told Bloomberg they had not yet seen the suit, but said, "This lawsuit is an attempt by Barclays to avoid taking responsibility for its own actions" and that Barclays made "its own assessments that did not anticipate what, in hindsight, turned out to be a historically difficult market.''
Whatever the legal result of Barclays' (NYSE: BCS) lawsuit against Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) over hedge fund losses, the UK bank should have know better.
Much of the current problem related to mortgage-related securities bought and held by big financial companies is why the "due diligence" was so thin.
According to Reuters, "Barclays Bank Plc accused Bear Stearns Co Inc on Wednesday of loading one of its hedge funds with about $500 million in troubled assets just weeks before it collapsed with another fund."
Barclays has a case if Bear Stearns simply dumped risky securities into the fund without any warning. But the UK bank certainly knew the overall asset mix of the pools and was still making a bet that mortgage-related securities would do well.
Did Bear Stearns lie to Barclays? Did it mislead the big bank? Perhaps. But the greed that drove big banks to invest in these instruments was not limited to Barclays. Neither was the lack of understanding about how the securities worked, or what their risks were.
Barclays can blame itself on those counts.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
It's not every season that Wall Street analysts greet losses or write-downs with smiles, but such is the case in the 'subprime watch' era.
Barclays (NYSE: BCS) Thursday said it wrote-down $2.7 billion of credit-related securities tied to the U.S. subprime mortgage market.
Investors once again appeared to be relieved that a major bank's subprime losses, while not small, weren't catastrophic. Barclays' shares fell just 44 cents to $43.44 in mid-morning trading Thursday. Further, Barclays' shares are up more than 10% for the week, an indication that investors may be regaining an appetite for the United Kingdom's third-largest bank.
Almost every other big bank doing business in the U.S. has taken a big subprime write-down, so why should Barclays (NYSE: BCS) be any different? It's not.
The big British bank announced that it would take a $2.7 billion charge for the four months ending in October. As Reuters writes, "In a surprise trading update on Thursday, Barclays Capital announced a write-down of 500 million pounds for the July-September quarter and a further 800 million pound write-down for October. The write-down was less than many estimates of Barclays' exposure to problems."
As perverse as it may seem, Barclays stock will probably do well because the number was not larger. There had been rumors that the charge could be as large as $10 billion.
The message from big banks and Wall Street firms that is now emerging is that they are, for the most part, OK. The worst of the subprime problems may well have passed and it is time for investors to consider that shares of these institutions may have bottomed.
But, there are other ghosts still hiding in the basement. Consumer credit may have been damaged by the housing mess and LBO loans still sit on the balance sheets of several large financial institutions.
The fun is not over yet.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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