BloggingStocks

Ongoing Bank Failures Tied to Commercial Real Estate

Trey Thoelcke — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:10:00 EST

The FDIC said this week that it expects distressed loans tied to mortgages and commercial real estate failures to result in many more bank failures this year. Last year 140 U.S. banks failed, the highest annual level since 1992. The FDIC has said the total bill for bank failures for the period of 2009 through 2013 could reach $100 billion.

Five more banks were seized by regulators on Friday, bringing this year's total to nine. The five failed banks are:

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Ongoing Bank Failures Tied to Commercial Real Estate originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The week in preview: Focus returns to earnings: Alcoa, Chevron, Family Dollar

Trey Thoelcke — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Alcoa Inc (AA), Chevron Corp (CVX), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Economic Data

The second half of the calendar year has begun, and earnings return to the spotlight this week. As usual, Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is among the first of the S&P 500 to report quarterly results. For the second quarter in which Alcoa agreed to sell its wire harness and electrical distribution business and its fastening systems business expanded into Morocco, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the New York-based aluminum producer to report swinging to a net loss of $0.34 per share from a profit of $0.66 per share in the year-ago period. Second quarter revenue is expected to have fallen 48.3% to $3.9 billion. The full-year forecast is currently for a loss of $1.04 per share and revenue of $16.7 billion (-38.0%). Alcoa has missed expectations in the past three quarters, by as much as 17 cents per share. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 10.0%, which is better than the sector average. Alcoa slashed its dividend earlier this year, and the First Call consensus recommendation remains to hold AA. However, TheStreet.com recommends it as an against-the-grain pick. At $9.86, shares are down 12.4% since the beginning of the year, and recently have been bumping up against the 200-day moving average.

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The week in preview: Focus returns to earnings: Alcoa, Chevron, Family Dollar originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New rules for buying failed banks may deter investors

Trey Thoelcke — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:10:00 EST

Filed under: Private Equity, Financial Crisis

On Thursday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is expected to propose new guidelines for private-equity investors seeking to buy failed banks. Those guidelines are intended to ensure that these largely unregulated firms don't take too many risks with troubled banks or buy and flip them.

The new rules come as private-equity firms have grown increasingly active in the banking sector. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said she's comfortable with the private-equity deals the agency has struck for failed banks such as IndyMac and BankUnited, but that a more structured process needs to be put in place.

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New rules for buying failed banks may deter investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The week in preview: Canadian and U.S. banks, and more

Trey Thoelcke — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Industry, AutoZone Inc (AZO)

After the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, the earnings spotlight turns to Canadian banks: Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) are all scheduled to report their second-quarter results.

While banks north of the border of generally have held up better than their U.S. counterparts, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the four listed above to report that earnings declined between 20% and 30% since the same period of last year. All four have P/E ratios around 10, and they are paying dividends. Shares of all four have surged 50% to 83% in the past three months, but are still 26% to 38% lower than a year ago.

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The week in preview: Canadian and U.S. banks, and more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 24 May 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cramer on BloggingStocks: We need Sheila Bair

Jim Cramer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:18:00 EST

Filed under: Market Matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis

From TheStreet.com Network

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says removing her from the FDIC would be a colossal mistake.

Don't kick out Sheila Bair! She knows the numbers. This morning, Bloomberg's reporting that Tim Geithner doesn't want Bair at the FDIC anymore because she is not a team player.

To which I say, "Thank heavens!" -- the team was terrible! These reports make her sound like Terrell Owens in the locker room -- a great player who is cancerous when going gets tough -- when it is actually the opposite: She is the franchise player to build around. When Indymac was seized (something I wish she had done earlier, but she waited as long as she could), she and her organization became the laboratory, the great central testing zone for what will work and what won't work to stem foreclosures, the root cause of all of our financial problems.

She was ignored, systematically ignored, even though she had the knowledge base. Both Geithner's organization and Treasury always thought the situation was either under control or could be controlled by top-down thinking: Give Wells (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take) and Citi (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take) and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) (Cramer's Take) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) some money, they will lend, it will trickle down.

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Cramer on BloggingStocks: We need Sheila Bair originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Should the U.S. consider a national, home mortgage foreclosure time-out?

Joseph Lazzaro — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:27:00 EST

Filed under: Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Politics, Housing, Recession, Financial Crisis

No mainstream economist or analysts thought the United States financial system and economy would ever face circumstances like these, but fundamentals and a negative spiral have worsened to such a degree that the nation may have to implement a temporary, home mortgage foreclosure for all mortgages, according to an economist.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) have already announced a six-week halt to foreclosures and evictions through the holidays, lasting until January 9, to give the servicers time to implement their own program for at-risk mortgages, Bloomberg News reported. The government-sponsored enterprises own or guarantee $5.2 trillion of the $12 trillion U.S. home mortgage market.

National moratorium needed?

Economist Richard Felson told BloggingStocks a national moratorium on the remaining roughly $7 trillion in mortgages would give the incoming Obama Administration time to play-catch up, after the Bush Administration's underperformance on a universal, streamlined mortgage refinancing program. If implemented, the plan would end the rise in home foreclosures that's causing the securities defaults that are elongating the financial crisis.

Continue reading Should the U.S. consider a national, home mortgage foreclosure time-out?

Should the U.S. consider a national, home mortgage foreclosure time-out? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Should Obama name FDIC's Bair as a Special Advisor for Mortgage Policy?

Joseph Lazzaro — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:14:00 EST

Filed under: Politics, Housing, Recession

Most investors know that there's a difference between Democratic Party leadership and Republican Party leadership, as it relates to U.S. fiscal and economic policy.

However, although more economically-cohesive than the Democratic Party, the Republican Party is not monolithic, and there's perhaps no better example of these often nuanced differences in policy than the positions on home mortgage assistance policy held by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair.

Paulson has been slow on payment relief

Although he has shown support for mortgage refinance programs aimed at achieving lower payments - - 'payment relief' in Washingtonspeak - - Paulson has steered clear of policies that would mandate that banks unilaterally lower principals, or interest rates, preferring to stick with a voluntary approach, whereby banks basically negotiate with borrowers on a case-by-case basis.

That traditional Republican response, economist David H. Wang said, "has prevented mortgage refinancings from occurring for those who don't truly need them," but it also has increased the at-risk mortgage pool, delaying the housing sector's recovery.

A solution to the above, in Wang's view? Adopt the FDIC plan backed by Bair, whereby the Treasury would use its funds to speed refinancings for at-risk homeowners in owner-occupied homes. Wang agreed with Bair that the FDIC plan could prevent 1.5 million foreclosures by the end of 2009.

"It could prevent even more, perhaps as many as 1.8-2 million foreclosures, and until the U.S. ends these waves of foreclosures, very little good news will occur from a GDP standpoint, which is why Bair's plan should be enacted," Wang said. "I also think President-elect Obama should appoint her to a Special Advisor post in the Obama Administration, solving the home foreclosure problem is that critical to the nation's economic health."

Continue reading Should Obama name FDIC's Bair as a Special Advisor for Mortgage Policy?

Should Obama name FDIC's Bair as a Special Advisor for Mortgage Policy? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do bailout critics have a hidden agenda? Who cares?

Zac Bissonnette — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 13:40:00 EST

Filed under: Law, Blogs, Scandals

Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., is suggesting that some critics of President Bush's subprime bailout plan may not exactly have the most altruistic motives.

Ms. Bair, who was appointed by President Bush in 2006, told the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) that "I do worry that some of the investors have taken short positions on the ABX," an index based on subprime-mortgage-backed securities.

Well isn't that enlightened. A lot of people have spoken out with intelligent reason in opposition the President's bailout plan. And now the chairman of the FDIC is saying, utterly without evidence, that some of these people have nefarious ulterior motives.

Here's the problem with Bair's "worrying": This issue should be decided on the merits, regardless of the motives of the individuals behind the arguments. Short-sellers will always be criticized for "bashing." But they're usually right. And if the critics of the bailout are making reasonable arguments, who cares if they're short?

It's a really sad commentary on how low the debate has fallen when the chairman of the FDIC is resorting to what is essentially name calling, rather than defending a position on its merits. Happily, some of our bloggers have made cases on the merits -- without resorting to name calling, and they mostly oppose the bailout.

Homeowner bailout sets lousy precedent
Bust mortgage rescue plan: Winners and losers
Our government's mortgage bailout madness
Proposed subprime bailout gives the shaft to responsible consumers

Do bailout critics have a hidden agenda? Who cares? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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