hsbc posts
FeedPosted Mar 7th 2009 2:42PM by Peter Cohan (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS)
Do you feel good about $173 billion of your tax money helping to keep American International Group (NYSE: AIG) from going bust? If you made the decisions that put AIG at death's door you might be. But the odds are pretty good that you had absolutely nothing to do with AIG's failure and received not a penny of compensation during the time when its executives were reporting profits -- and getting millions in compensation that they're not paying back now that it's losing money.
That's one of the reasons why I was arguing on KCRW's To the Point that the U.S. ought to disclose who is getting the taxpayer money that goes to AIG. After all, they just got another $30 billion this week after reporting history's biggest quarterly loss of $61 billion. A professor on the program suggested that we should not disclose the names of the recipients because it would threaten the stability of the financial system. I thought this professor's argument was unpersuasive -- and now we'll get a chance to see who was right.
Continue reading How much of AIG's $173 billion bailout went to European banks?
Posted Mar 2nd 2009 9:00AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Bad news

In the infamous words of Rod Roddy,
HSBC Holdings (NYSE:
HBC) come on down! You're next on the Earnings are Falling (or The Price is Wrong if you like).
The banking firm announced this morning that its 2008 profit fell some 70%, which is prompting the firm to halt most of its U.S. consumer lending business. HSBC's net profit fell to $5.73 billion from $19.13 billion a year ago. In North America, HSBC took a goodwill charge of $10.6 billion stemming from the restructure of the region. Taking this charge out of the equation, HSBC's profit dropped 18% to $19.9 billion. Experts had expected a pretax profit of roughly $20 billion.
Continue reading HSBC announces earnings and U.S. closings; more pain to come
Posted Sep 3rd 2008 8:25AM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) is a dog of a brokerage house and a broken company. Yet, every time Wall Street turns around, some other financial company is considering investing in it. According to Reuters, "HSBC and the Chinese bank, along with top U.S. hedge funds, are competing with Korea Development Bank."
The fascination with Lehman is fascinating. While it may have a strong money management arm, the value of its commercial property portfolio is falling apart. It has the same kind of toxic mortgage-backed paper on its balance sheet as the one that plagues the balance of the financial industry. If they have any sense, top managers at Lehman will be getting out.
If investors are right about Lehman, the company may not make it. The stock trades at $16, down from a 52-week high of almost $68. With a market cap of only $11 billion, a $5 billion investment could push shares to below $9.
Credit markets are supposed to get worse this year. At least that is what the newspapers say. Lehman is as likely to be further damaged by that as any other large financial firm.
A few outside investors see something in Lehman that the markets don't. Perhaps they would be willing to share that with the rest of the world.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Posted Aug 9th 2008 11:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Time Warner (TWX), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Procter and Gamble (PG), News Corp'B' (NWS), Marvel Entertainment (MVL)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Fannie Mae, Time Warner, P&G, Playboy, News Corp. and others
Posted Aug 4th 2008 8:15AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Apple Inc (AAPL), Time Warner (TWX), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Economic data, Oil, Housing, Federal Reserve

Stock futures were lower Monday morning ahead of a wave of economic data, a tropical storm and, most important, the Federal Reserve meeting and decision Tuesday.
Before the opening bell, the economic calendar includes personal income and spending data for June, as well as the core PCE deflator, an inflation gauge the Federal Reserve eyes closely. Factory orders for June are also due after the open.
Oil prices were steady near $125 a barrel Monday as the market kept on eye on both tropical storm Edouard that could turn into a hurricane and hit oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, and on further developments in Iran. But most of trading today will likely be affected by expectations the Fed will
not change interest rates Tuesday, and issue a neutral statement with the focus changing to the weak economy.
Bank troubles aren't over.
HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE:
HBC) reported a
significant profit drop as costs for bad U.S. mortgage loans mounted. "HSBC Chairman Stephen Green said the first half of 2008 saw one of the most difficult financial markets for decades." As long as the housing market slump continues, and before the bottom can be seen, no doubt the financial sector will continue to suffer. And given that only about 40% on the $1 trillion expected writedowns were taken, the challenges for financials are far from over. For now, HBC shares are dropping about 3% in premarket trading.
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures slump -- HBC, GM, AAPL, TWX, C ...
Posted Jul 8th 2008 7:39AM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: International markets
Will investors soon get over worries about losses from subprime mortgages?
As Doug indicated this morning, the answer for now is "nope." Today overseas markets are definitely paying attention to renewed fears about credit markets. The Dow was down over 56 points yesterday and today, Asian market sectors including banking, brokerage and insurance
took a plunge as well. Francis Lun with Hong Kong's Fulbright Securities told MarketWatch, "After the drop on Wall Street, people are wary about further write-downs related to subprime mortgages."
With earnings season just kicking off today with Alcoa's second quarter results after the close, should we also be bracing for worse-than-expected reports from banks and brokerages? Today hat's the sentiment in Hong Kong and other Asian markets, where the Hang Seng index fell 3.2% in overnight trading and the Nikkei lost 2.5%.
Asian regional markets were sitting on the same worries pressuring U.S. markets, according to David Cohen with Action Economics. He posited that most Asian indexes were under pressure "from the same forces weighing upon markets globally, hostage to oil prices, and fears of stagflation." This morning at least, investors are bracing for U.S. markets to get worse before they get better.
Posted May 27th 2008 4:19AM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Economic data, Federal Reserve
It says a mouthful when banks start to call for higher interest rates. The view of managements at financial companies may be coming around to the point where they believe inflation is a bigger problem than rates are.
According to Reuters, "The chief executive of Europe's biggest lender on Tuesday called on central bankers to raise interest rates in order to combat inflation." The head man at HSBC (NYSE:HBC) fears that there is no overall plan in the financial community to keep rising prices down.
The viewpoint about inflation is probably right, but that does not mean that governments will begin to up rates. In places like the US, where people are still defaulting on mortgages at record rates, and auto loans and credit card payments are under pressure, upping interest rates would be hard to swallow.
There is also the matter that increasing banking rates may do nothing to halt the spike in food and gas prices. These are being set, to a large extent, by demand outside the US, especially in developing nations. Messing with the cost of lending is not likely to fix that.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and the author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.
Posted May 20th 2008 8:00AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Citigroup Inc. (C), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Barclays plc ADS (BCS),
MAJOR PAPERS:
- 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.
OTHER PAPERS:
- 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).
Posted May 13th 2008 8:10AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Boeing Co (BA), Morgan Stanley (MS), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Lockheed Martin (LMT)
MAJOR PAPERS:
- Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is expected to beat out The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) for an approximate $1.8B contract to from the U.S. Air Force to build a new generation of navigation satellites, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, former American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) CEO Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg is pressing the troubled insurer to turn the company around. He says that he and other major shareholders have "deep concern about the persistent and seemingly endless destruction of value at AIG."
- Hybrid Capital Second, a Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) investment vehicle, increased its stake in internet start-up Livedoor to 18.15% from 12.76% in March, the Financial Times reported, superseding the company's founder, Takafumi Horie.
OTHER PAPERS:
- After it incurred $3.2B of bad debts in the first three months of the year, the Telegraph reported that Knight Vinke, an HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) shareholder, has renewed calls for the bank to shed its U.S. consumer finance business.
Posted May 9th 2008 11:10AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, McDonald's (MCD)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: HSBC Holdings, WPP Group and Aware were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- Morgan Stanley downgraded HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) to Underweight from Equal Weight to reflect expected losses at the company's U.S. unit.
- ABN Amro cut WPP Group (NASDAQ: WPPGY) to Hold from Buy as they expect slowing top-line growth from stagnant marketing budgets.
- Merriman downgraded shares of Aware (NASDAQ: AWRE) to Neutral from Buy after DSL royalty revenue declined for a third straight quarter.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Posted May 6th 2008 11:59AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, PetroChina Co Ltd ADR (PTR)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sunoco, Ryanair and HSBC Holdings were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- JP Morgan downgraded Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) to Underweight from Neutral citing expected margin pressure due to high leverage to sweet crude. Goldman also downgraded shares of Sunoco to Neutral from Buy.
- Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Ryanair (NASDAQ: RYAAY) to Sell from Hold as they believe the European airlines sector will trade well below book value until the companies deal with higher oil prices.
- UBS cut HSBC (NYSE: HBC) to Neutral from Buy to reflect the potential for higher losses at the company's household unit and weak performance at its U.S. bank.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- Broadpoint lowered MTS Medication (NYSE: MPP) to Neutral from Strong Buy.
- HSBC cut Southern Peru Copper (NYSE: PCU) to Neutral from Overweight.
- Goldman downgraded CNH Global (NYSE: CNH) to Neutral from Buy and PetroChina (PTR) to Sell from Buy.
Posted Mar 26th 2008 9:10AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), , Wells Fargo (WFC), , Stocks to Buy, Stocks to Sell, Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer wonders -- can we handle this giant's failure? As always, it is
Citigroup (NYSE:
C) (
Cramer's Take). My smartest guys tell me that Citigroup has billions in assets it can sell, that there is ample opportunity for the company to reliquify, that Vikram Pandit has things under control and the slow bleed cuts are going to work to get costs down.
Now I have total confidence in Treasury, particularly in Bob Steel, to take care of the shorts and to create brilliant shotgun marriages that reward the rich banks and punish the poor.
BUT, I have no faith in Citigroup, which because of the moronic acquisitions and bizarre off-balance-sheet liabilities may technically be insolvent. When you consider it is too big to fail, you have to begin to wonder -- what's the plan if it can't make it? How far can forbearance go? Will we tolerate this bank being majority-owned by the sheiks or the communist Chinese? Seems far-fetched, but when I read Meredith Whitney's words this morning over at OPCO I know that the losses are going to be too big for the current base of capital.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: No faith in Citigroup
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