Archive for April, 2009

Yesterday we heard the recession is coming to an end. Now that things are getting better, the government steps up and does what they promised to do six months ago.

The U.S. Treasury Department will on Tuesday tap a $50 billion housing rescue fund to pay off mortgage investors and reduce monthly payments for millions of borrowers, said a senior administration official.

Mortgage servicers that own a small stake in costly loans will receive a cash payment to either erase the debt or agree to accept a reduced return on their investment.

There have been reports for two months that the recession is waning.

U.S. consumer confidence posted its biggest jump in more than three years in April while the slump in home prices showed signs of slowing in February, adding to hopes that the recession may be waning.

Revisionist accounting will tell us, in six months, that the recession ended when President Obama was elected. Wanna bet?

Funny thing is, most of these banks were in the same position three months ago that they’re in today.

As Washington pushes banks to mend their finances, the banks are pushing back.

Emboldened by newfound profits and eager to shake off federal control, a growing number of banks are resisting the Obama administration’s proposals for fixing the financial system. Lenders that skirted disaster only months ago with the help of taxpayer dollars are now balking at government prescriptions.

Apparently, the only banks that needed government help were the ones who consider themselves “too big to fail” which translates into “taking the easy way out”.

We all knew some drastic cuts were going to be made. Who knew it would be an entire make of car?

After 83 years of storied history and with a huge following for its famous older models, Pontiac on Monday became the highest-profile victim of the U.S. auto industry crisis with General Motors Corp’s announcement the brand would cease to exist in 2010.

Ohhh. I didn’t realize Swine Flu would have such a positive impact…

Oil prices fell over 2 percent toward $50 a barrel on Monday, paring some of the previous session’s near 4 percent gain, on fears of a global flu pandemic after an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico.

The impending release of U.S. bank “stress test” results, a Federal Reserve meeting and a flood of earnings due later this week also heightened investor caution.

I’m taking the night off to complete a big project I am working on. I’ll be back tomorrow, unless Swine Flu gets me.

Not everyone is down with the economy.

Apple Inc’s quarterly profit soared past Wall Street expectations on strong sales of iPhones and iPods, underscoring the popularity of the company’s relatively expensive products even in the midst of a weak economy.

Awesome news. Now if I could find a job so I could buy an iPhone…

The ride keeps on going.

The ups.

AT&T Inc (T.N) posted a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit due to strong growth in its nascent video and high-speed Internet service, sending shares up 2 percent.

And the downs.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) posted its second straight quarterly loss on Wednesday and slashed its dividend as real estate investment losses and a debt-related charge wiped out gains from its trading businesses.

I can’t help but wonder what we’re going to hear about Freddie Mac that was so terrible he felt he needed to kill himself?

David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what broadcast reports said was an apparent suicide.

WUSA-TV and WTOP Radio reported that David Kellermann was found dead in his Northern Virginia home. The 41-year-old Kellermann has been Freddie Mac’s chief financial officer since September.

Could there be anything worse than we have already heard?

This sounds like the perfect setup for the government’s ultimate plan.

A surge in troubled loans overshadowed better-than-expected earnings at Bank of America Corp, and the largest U.S. bank expects the credit situation to worsen, driving its shares down 17 percent.

While first-quarter profit more than doubled, the results are unlikely to end calls by investors for Kenneth Lewis to step down as chief executive or give up the post of chairman. The bank’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co on January 1 led to an emergency federal bailout two weeks later.

And that plan is…

Obama administration officials have determined they can avoid asking Congress for more bank bailout funds by converting existing loans to the largest U.S. banks into common stock, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

President Barack Obama’s top economic advisers now say such a conversion would let them stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, the paper said, citing administration officials it did not identify.

Converting the loans to the 19 biggest U.S. banks into common shares would turn the government aid into available capital and give the government a large equity stake in return, the newspaper said.

First it was baby steps, but now it seems were in a full out sprint toward nationalization.