Kenny Lewis, Chief Executive Undertaker at Bank of America, took the opportunity to write an op-ed piece in today’s WSJ. Some of the bank myths he aimed to dispel: The banks aren’t lending, The banks are insolvent, The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) hasn’t worked, Taxpayers have given the banks billions and won’t get…
Uncategorized
March 12th: Balance Sheet Amnesty Day?
What’s the story with March 12th? Basically, the thinking out there goes something like this. Congress is planning to take a look at possibly easing the Mark-to-Market accounting rules, giving US banks a fighting chance at making it through this period. From the Washington Post: A House Financial Services subcomittee has scheduled a March 12…
Corporate Sponsors for the New Yankee Stadium?
Bank of America finally displayed an ounce of remorse when they recently decided to back away from buying the naming rights to the new Yankee Stadium (unlike the rogue bank that will go forward with the sponsorship of Citi Field). Taking a glance at the condition of many Fortune 500 companies, you’ll see that there aren’t many companies…
NYT: CNBC is on a War Footing
Fairly objective article in the New York Times describing how CNBC can actually make hay while the sun is not shining: “this is CNBC’s equivalent of a war. Just as the first cable news channel, CNN, rose to prominence during the gulf war in 1991, and another one, the Fox News Channel, became a ratings…
Madoff Newsflash: Bongiorno, Annette!
Oh boy. Here come the accomplices. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that after interviewing assistants at Bernard L Madoff Securities, investigators have learned that Annette Bongiorno, a 40 year-plus employee of the Ponzi King, had ordered up fake trade confirmations and historical price research on the stocks they pretended to have traded. Anyone still…
Get-TARP Hero: Iberiabank
Where is the pride among the community bankers who had avoided the sub prime gold rush and have treated their balance sheets like they gave a damn? Apparently, the pride is in Lafayette, Louisiana, the home of Iberiabank Corporation. Iberiabank (IBKC) has become the first financial institution out of over 440 to return TARP funds…
"But We Can't Afford to Lose the Talent" and Other Bullsh*t
Attention Wall Street Banks: YOUR EMPLOYEES AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE. THERE IS NOWHERE FOR THEM TO GO. PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS ARE SCREWED, REAL ESTATE FIRMS ARE DEAD ALSO…AS ARE MOST HEDGE FUNDS. STOP THE BONUSES, YOUR PEOPLE ARE STUCK WITH YOU ANYWAY. _____________________________________________________________________________ As B of A/ Merrill‘s Ken Lewis and John Thain continue to play…
I Predict a Reverse Stock Split Explosion
I’m calling it here and now: 2009 will witness a record-setting explosion in reverse stock splits, on both the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. According to Marketwatch.com, more than half of the Wilshire 5000 index is currently trading under $5 per share. That’s pretty sick when you think about it. The Wilshire 5000…
February '09 Jobs Report Word Cloud
On March 6th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the February Non-Farm Payrolls report and it was pages and pages of some of the most mind-numbingly depressing stuff you could imagine. So I thought I’d have some fun with it…here’s a word cloud built with actual text of the report itself: Props to Wordle
Goldman Sachs is a Charity Case, Too.
This is a very big story and will probably piss off taxpayers like nothing else has thus far. The Wall Street Journal has the list of all the companies that were essentially made whole by the AIG bailout. Basically, these are the firms that were counter-parties in transactions with AIG, the hedge fund that happens…
