How long before financial markets ask, So who's going to pay that $1 trillion?
The European Union’s $1 trillion rescue plan will reassure financial markets for a while. But at some point the bond markets are going to ask “So how are they going to pay for this?” In the coming days you’re going to hear lots of comparisons between this $1 trillion...Bank of America's exposure to the euro debt crisis seems very modest; confirms U.S. risk of contagion is low
A little data here. A little data there. Someday we may actually know what banks are at risk in the European debt crisis. (Of course by then the crisis might well be over.) Bank of America (BAC) reported its exposure today, May 7, in a filing with the SEC (Securities...Citibank has survived but I don't think the bank has much of a future
“We have turned the corner,” Citigroup CFO John Gerspach, said when he announced Citigroup’s first quarter 2010 financial results on April 19. But I have to ask, What corner is he looking at? Can’t be the corner of 40th and Broadway near my office in Manhattan. There...What's really at stake for banks in the Goldman SEC suit
It might be just coincidence that the SEC filed civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs (GS) in the midst of a contentious debate in Washington over legislation to reform Wall Street. But it’s sure as God made little green apple no coincidence that the SEC announced...Goldman's "She's just a girl" defense against SEC charges
She doesn’t show up by name in the charges of civil fraud that the SEC has brought against Goldman. But Reuters reported yesterday that emails written by Gail Kreitman, a Goldman Sachs bond saleswoman until June 2009, are cited by the SEC to show that Goldman misled...An intelligent guess at who's at risk after the SEC charges Goldman Sachs
Who’s next? Now that the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) has filed a civil fraud suit against Goldman Sachs (GS), Wall Street’s favorite game is guessing which big bank the agency might name next. Some of the lists have no credulity at all—they’re simply...The SEC case against Goldman punctures Wall Street's "Act of God" defense–the agency says the global financial crisis was somebody's fault
The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) today, April 16, charged Goldman Sachs (GS) with civil fraud. And the whole market has sold off. At 12:30 ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 162 points or 1.45%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index was down...JPMorgan Chase disappoints on loan loss reserves–bank sector earnings pop delayed
I wish I could be as optimistic about the first quarter results posted yesterday by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) as the stock market was. The market apparently focused on the 74 cents a share in earnings—a great big 11 cents a share above Wall Street projections. The stock...Will JPMorgan Chase call the turn in the banking sector tomorrow morning?
For the next couple of days, at least, Jamie Dimon, CEO at JPMorgan Chase (JPM), is the most important figure in the U.S. financial industry. JPMorgan Chase reports earnings tomorrow, April 14, before the stock market opens. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is...Buy US Bancorp (USB)
I’m taking this stock off Jim’s Watch List and adding it to the Jubak’s Picks portfolio today, March 26. Unfortunately, the stock is up roughly 18% since I added it to the watch list, climbing from $22.01 on December 15, 2009 to $26.13 as of 1 p.m. ET on March 26. But...Can taxpayers begin to get off the hook?
This week’s attempt by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) to sell securities backed by residential mortgages and construction loans marks a huge milestone in the road back to normalcy for the financial markets this week. Let’s hope the markets pass the test....Bank failures set to peak in 2010, FDIC says.
Yesterday, February 24, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) announced that its list of problem banks hit 702, at the end of December. That’s the highest level since 1993. But, if we’re lucky and the economy doesn’t take a step backward this year, the number of...Update HDFC Bank (HDB)
At the end of January the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, held a conference call for analysts and investors. The message: The bank is worried about continued growth in government borrowing and strong demand for loans from the commercial sector. And...Even JPMorgan Chase is still putting new money away to cover bad loans
Can’t anybody run a bank anymore? I don’t mean an investment bank that makes its money from trading, managing stock and bond offerings, and inventing new financial instruments. That’s a good business these days for everybody from Bank of America (BAC) to JPMorgan...China's bank regulators are losing the battle to rein in speculation–for now
So far it doesn’t look like the Chinese government is committed to ending financial speculation. Look at the mis-match between the amount of cash Beijing has pumped into its economy and the tiny steps it has taken recently to take money out of the financial system....How do you stamp out Wall Street greed? Maybe by charging for it
Hmmm, maybe, finally, a good idea on how to curb the worst excesses of Wall Street pay. Regulators at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FIDC), the Financial Times reports, are talking about linking the amount that banks have to pay into the fund that provides...Update State Street (STT)
Jubak Picks 50 portfolio member State Street (STT) is gradually finding its way back to its core business of collecting fees for managing assets that belong to others and away from an ill-fated build up of its own investment portfolio. At the height of that past...China's banks copy Citigroup in hiding bad loans off their balance sheets
Banks are moving loans off their balance sheets in order to dress up their accounts for worried regulators. Only this time it isn’t Citigroup (C) or State Street (SST) that’s involved but China’s big banks. In November China’s banks packaged and then sold $18.6...I can hear shareholders screaming but I still think Citigroup got off easy
I think Citigroup (C) just got off easy. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have let the company repay its government loans so it can pretend to be just a regular bank again. Not yet. Not by a long shot. You see there’s still the little problem of the $617 billion in...Reverse Goldilocks bank stocks: The best buys weren't really terrible or really good but just bad enough
Ah, to be healthy bank that dodged the last financial crisis in residential mortgages and isn’t cowering in fear of the new one in commercial mortgages and loans. You be hovering up deposits from savers looking for safety. Licking your chops at all the tasty...Are we thriftier or have banks just cut up our credit cards?
Maybe U.S. consumers aren’t quite so virtuous after all. According to the flow of funds report from the Federal Reserve released last week, U.S. consumers had cut back on their use of credit in the third quarter of 2009. Outstanding credit card bills had dropped by...Mortgage deliquency rate projected to inch–and I mean inch–downward in 2010
Reassuring news on the home mortgage front: the tide of mortgage delinquencies will start to recede in 2010—unless you live in Arizona, California, Florida, New York or Virginia. Those states will see delinquencies continue to climb next year. That’s the forecast from...So how many bad loans have China's banks made? And when will the bill come due?
There’s no free lunch. Not even for China. The Beijing government has used its state-controlled banking system to provide much of the financial stimulus that has powered China to 8.9% economic growth in the third quarter of 2009. And now the bill is coming due....The next bubble? Here's a logical and surprising place to look
Everyone is warning about bubbles. These warnings have all been unconvincing to me because they imagine that the next bubble will look like the last one. Until today. Gillian Tett in the November 23 Financial Times has come up with the first description of a bubble...Banks buy Treasuries paying less than 0% interest: What's going on?
The yield on a 90-day Treasury bill closed at 0.005% on Friday, November 20. Yep, some investors were willing to lock up their money for three months and get an exciting five-hundredths of a percent in interest. But that’s not the most shocking thing that happened on...If you or your business think it's harder to get a loan, you're right. Still.
When will banks start lending again? Wasn’t in October. Doesn’t look like November. Maybe 2010? That would be a relief for any investor counting on 3% or better growth from the U.S. economy next year. The economy can’t start cooking if banks aren’t lending. The...Some banks struggle as others get back to business as usual
You think the current wisdom that the banking sector is divided into the “have-nots” and the “haves” is an exaggeration? It’s very, very real—and it should be one of your guiding concepts if you’re thinking of buying any stock in the sector. There are banks that have...Who will replace the fallen? (Banks, that is)
Mr. Market abhors a vacuum just as much as Mother Nature. If the big U.S. banks are less interested in what you and I would call traditional banking, if many regional U.S. banks are cutting back on lending to shrink their balance sheets so that they don’t have to...Update ING (ING)
When the reason you bought a stock no longer applies, you sell. Knowing what I know today, I will sell ING (ING) out of the long-term Jubak Picks 50 portfolio on the annual revision of that portfolio in December. (By the rules of this portfolio, I only buy and sell...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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