big banks posts
FeedPosted Mar 10th 2011 12:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Products and Services, Management, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value™, Comic Relief
When dealing with large companies, have you ever felt you were living through a scene from a Seinfeld episode?
In January Wells Fargo (WFC) completed a majority of its integration with Wachovia, and I fear it will take years working out the bugs in the system. I say this because I am a major client, shareholder and trader dealing with the company on numerous levels, and the past few weeks would be comedic if not so infuriating.
Continue reading Chasing Value: Wells Fargo, a Seinfeld Episode?
Posted Feb 19th 2010 11:30AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis
According to William Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. economy is becoming healthy. Dudley did caution that it is too early to say we are out of the woods.
The New York Fed president stated that the recovery is "looking sustainable," adding that the capital markets (with the exception of certain securitization markets) "are now generally open for business." Dudley added, "We currently expect that the economy will keep expanding, but at a somewhat slower growth rate than during the second half of 2009 as the temporary boost from the inventory cycle fades and the effects of the stimulus bill gradually weaken."
Continue reading According to Fed's Dudley, the U.S. Economy Is Becoming Healthy
Posted Jan 22nd 2010 12:00PM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Financial Crisis

Banks have seen a hectic couple of days' of trading, thanks to a bevy of news. I thought it may be good to take a look at some earnings results from a few of the banks, and what it could mean for the economy going forward.
First, let's look at the earnings:
- JPMorgan Chase (JPM): earnings of 74 cents per share; expectations for 60 cents per share
- Citigroup (C): a loss of six cents per share; expectations for a loss of 33 cents per share
- Goldman Sachs (GS): earnings of $8.20 per share; expectations for earnings of $5.20
Continue reading What Do Earnings from the Big Banks Signal for the Economy?
Posted Feb 24th 2008 1:10PM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Industry, Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), , Economic Data, MBIA Inc (MBI)
A look at NYSE short interest as of February 15 shows that short sellers are still willing to make very large bets that bank stocks will go lower.
Shares sold short in Wachovia (NYSE: WB) rose 16.3 million between January 31 and February 15. For Citigroup (NYSE: C) shares short rose 10.9 million to 92.8 million. At Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) the number was up 6.3 million to 68.8 million.
Even with bank stocks trading near multi-year lows, a number of investors are anticipating more bad news as banks file their 10Ks for 2007 and announce their 2008 first quarter results. The short sellers have a fairly good chance of making a killing.
Big banks still have several things going against them. As the mortgage market gets worse, they may have more subprime write-downs. A drop in the credit rating at a bond insurer like MBIA (NYSE: MBI) could force the banks to write-down securities that rely on AAA ratings for some of their value. Perhaps the most important liability banks have not faced is the declining value of financial instruments based on auto loans and credit card balances.
The world is likely to get much worse for big banks and short-sellers are likely to make money on that.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.