Yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 225, so I decided to peg the financial stocks I wrote about investing in as a pool. We are often accused of bragging on the good days and having memory loss on the bad so I wanted to be transparent and forthright on the downside.

The market is rebounding as I write so I expect the news is even better. Although, this pool of stocks beat the market so far in the short run, I hope to track this group for a year, or at least until Major League Baseball's spring training opens in 2009.

If you want to track the story with me the first post was Serious Money: 10 finance stocks as the market bounces. I remain stubbornly optimistic that this is a buying opportunity and investors will be sorry they did not have the courage to buy stocks when they were hated. The follow-up was Serious Money: Tempting fate with 10 financials

The initial prices are as of July 29, 2008.

Continue reading Serious Money: Wisdom or folly -- 10 financials updated

Serious Money: Wisdom or folly -- 10 financials updated originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• 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.

• 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.

Newspaper wrap-up: Anheuser-Busch to cut jobs and raise prices originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Since coming on board, the CEO of Citigroup (NYSE: C), Vikram Pandit, has been using his cost-cutting knife. For example, he cut about 4,200 jobs in January.

And this week, we are seeing more - that is, 2,000 job cuts. The highest concentration will be in the investment banking and trading departments. In fact, it looks like some senior-level folks will get the axe.

Basically, Citigroup needs to take action to right-size its operations to the current environment (after all, in the prior quarter, the company sustained a $10 billion loss). It certainly looks like we'll continue to see tough time for buyouts as well as public offerings. And of course, don't expect much in the mortgage finance category.

Unfortunately, it looks like Citigroup may take further cuts throughout the year (especially if the markets remain in the doldrums). So unless you are a stellar "master of the universe," you just might get a pink slip.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Citigroup continues its slashing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.