The banking system has been crumbling for over a year, but last month's collapse of American International Group (NYSE: AIG) -- which prompted an $85 billion government takeover -- suggests that insurance is not immune from the problems. As a reminder, AIG got snared in the $62 trillion Credit Default Swap (CDS) market whose growth was spurred by McCain advisor, Phil "Americans are Whiners" Gramm.

And as insurance crumbles, banks keep suffering. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and National City Corp. (NYSE: NCC) are both hurting. How much?

• Bank of America's earnings plunged 68% to $1.18 billion, or $0.15/share -- missing by 60% analysts' forecast of 62 cents. Bank of America will raise capital by selling $10 billion of common stock and slashing its dividend in half from 64 cents to 32 cents. One analyst cut the bank's 2009 earnings estimate to $2.50 per share from $3 per share -- this is well below the $3.12 per share from a Thomson Reuters analyst poll -- and lowered his price target by $2 to $26.

• National City Corp. and its National City Bank both suffered debt downgrades from Fitch. For instance, Fitch slashed the bank subsidiary's long and short-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) to A- from A. And it lowered the bank and holding company's Individual rating to C from B.

Continue reading Financial foundation crumbles: First banks, now insurance

Financial foundation crumbles: First banks, now insurance originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In this series, we take a look at the 25 stocks on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) that have turned in the worst performance during the past decade -- what went wrong, and what happens next.

The suspense is over -- National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) is the fourth and final Ohio-based regional bank to appear on our list of laggards. Based out of Cleveland, National City appeared to be faring well in the late 1990s. The bank had just completed some key acquisitions, and the stock was locked in a long-term uptrend. However, the next decade would prove considerably more challenging.

What went wrong? At number 6 on our list of SPX underdogs, NCC gave up 87% of its value from June 30, 1998 through June 30, 2008. The stock peaked at $40 in November 2005, and then edged sideways ... until it ran headlong into the subprime tsunami.

The first warning from NCC came in March 2007, when the bank said it would retain $1.6 billion previously set aside for non-conforming loans. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, NCC said it had recorded $11 million in write-downs through the first two months of the year, and suggested that a further write-down was "likely" before the loans were transferred.

Continue reading Worst 10-year performers: National City mauled by mortgage meltdown

Worst 10-year performers: National City mauled by mortgage meltdown originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.