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Posted
Apr 28 2009, 03:48 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
By the middle of the year, the federal government will own large, and in some cases, controlling interests, in two car companies and several major banks. There is a chance the the extent of rescue efforts and government ownership could move to auto parts suppliers and insurance companies. If the Treasury can pick up stock in Cisco (CSCO) and Intel (INTC), it can control most of the important sectors of the economy. That raises the issue of how the federal government gets all of that taxpayer money back.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) have done poorly on their “stress tests”. Each bank may be encouraged to raise more capital. As a number of analysts have pointed out, private equity has no interest in stakes in troubled banks, even at a steep discount to current market values.
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Posted
Aug 27 2009, 07:20 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 This article is written by Minyanville's Andrew Jeffery
After four years of searing pain, the U.S. housing market is finally showing signs of life. And even as the causes and relative sustainability of this nascent “recovery” are being hotly debated, traditional buyers and investors alike are jumping into the market for homes with both feet. It now appears that the biggest, baddest investor of them all, the one with infinitely deep pockets, is wading into the fray: Uncle Sam. According to HousingWire, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, is giving state and local governments a total of $50 million to help deal with the onslaught of foreclosed homes, many of which lie vacant and blighted, ripe for vandalism, squatting, or worse. HUD has allocated chunks of cash to national development groups and local community organizations hoping to plug holes left by the private real estate investment market. Bing: US Housing Market
Funds are being distributed through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which was established by former President George Bush in Economic Stimulus part one and expanded by President Barack Obama earlier this year.
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Posted
Sep 17 2009, 11:57 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This article is written by Minyanville's Andrew Jeffery
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may have kept his job for another four years, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be any easier than the last four.
With pundits, politicians, and regulators sounding the trumpets that our latest bout with recession is likely behind us, central banks and Treasury Departments around the world are looking forward at the daunting task of removing the various forms of stimulus -- which, in the estimation of former Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg, have contributed 100% of global economic growth this year. See "Staying Neutral on Inflation vs. Deflation."
European Central Bank Chief Jean-Claude Trichet even took out space in the Financial Times to lay out his vision for the eventual withdrawal of “enhanced credit support,” which helped prop up local, and indeed global, financial markets.
Here at home, Bernanke’s much maligned predecessor, Alan Greenspan, is voicing concern that Congress could complicate the Fed’s already delicate task of keeping the economy grinding ahead without waking the sleeping giant of inflation.
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Posted
Feb 03 2009, 02:58 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
Macy's (M), the iconic 150-year-old retailer, will unload 7,000 jobs by May 1, slash its dividend, and consolidate its four regional businesses into a single unit.
The steps will save cash, The New York Times writes, but like other companies, Macy’s is also "using the economic downturn as a moment to make broad changes." The moves, expected to cut $650 million in costs over the next two years, failed to enthuse investors. The Washington Post reports shares fell about 4% Monday, hurt also by news that same-store sales could fall by as much as 8% this year.
Of course, big cuts by the nation's largest retailers come as no surprise these days. Last month, job cuts included 7,000 at Home Depot (HD), 1,100 at luxury chain Saks (SKS) and 375 at Neiman Marcus, the Times reminds us.
While retailers continue to cut to the bone, some firms, particularly in the tech industry, are still looking for cheap, young talent (while they cut elsewhere).
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Posted
Mar 27 2009, 02:55 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from The Big Money.
Obamanomics? Maybe so, according to CNNMoney, which reports that another mega "to-do" that has been added to President Obama's list: tax reform. The president has announced he will form a task force that will aim to do much of what President Reagan did with his own Tax Reform Act: close loopholes and fundamentally simplify the tax code. Another major focus will be "to reduce the estimated $300 billion-a-year tax gap -- the difference between what individual and corporate taxpayers owe and what they actually pay." For the task force, Obama's only two requirements are that there can be no tax increase this year or next year, and that afterward, there can be no tax increases for households making less than $250,000. The members of the task force will be culled from the Presidential Economic Recovery Board. They will be asked to present their reform ideas Dec. 4.
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Posted
Jul 21 2008, 02:36 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
If only investors had listened to me and The New York Times they would have been able to avoid the mess that is Citigroup. Back in late 2006, I noted Citi's $400 million deal that scored the bank naming rights for the new New York Mets stadium and cited a New York Times article that said:
Citigroup obviously thinks that the naming rights are valuable, but history does not indicate such deals have done much for other banks, or for the ball clubs that play in them. Stocks of banks with ballparks have tended to do worse than stocks of other banks, and teams in these parks have tended to lose more games than they win.
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Posted
Sep 16 2009, 11:33 AM
by
Louis Navellier
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It's been one year since Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, creating the worst credit crisis in history. But we've come a long way in those 12 months. Banks that were teetering on the brink of ruin have seen their stocks surge lately.
So is it the right time to get into financials again?
I'll answer that by taking a look at two very different financial firms: JP Morgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C).
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Posted
Apr 24 2009, 01:45 PM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
File this away in the "you can't make this stuff up" folder: On Friday beleaguered megabank Citigroup (C) proudly announced it would be participating in Teach Children to Save Day.
According to the press release, Citigroup volunteers "took a break from the bank" they ran into the ground to help teach the students of Public School 62. Hopefully the kids will be spared a pitch on the investment benefits of CMO z-tranches or the reasons why the originate-to-distribute banking model in is the common interest.
How can you not cringe when you read that Citi will prepare students "for a lifetime of handling their own finances" through "hands-on scenarios and real-life experiences " that will "explain the basics of saving, how interest makes money grow, how to create a budget and how to distinguish needs from wants"?
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Posted
Mar 09 2009, 05:41 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
As lawmakers busily laud their own efforts to unlock credit markets and jump-start lending, consumers yawn. They just don’t want to spend.
And it’s not just those out of work who are paring back expenditures. According to The Wall Street Journal, even the dwindling ranks of the employed are getting thrifty. Computer users are enduring slow machines rather than buying new ones, clothes-shopping trips are being delayed and coupon clipping is once again the vogue.
Discounters like Wal-Mart (WMT) are benefiting from bargain hunters looking to save a couple of bucks, while AutoZone’s (AZO) stock sprinted to a 52-week high last week, as drivers opt to do it themselves.
Politicians, rushing to restore the “prosperity” we so recently enjoyed, are confident this is just a passing fad, and that we’ll soon return to our spend-happy ways. Indeed, the viability of President Barack Obama’s new $3.4 trillion budget is predicated on the U.S. economy skipping along at a 3.4% growth rate next year -- and expanding even faster in 2011.
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Posted
Mar 20 2009, 03:45 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
In many large American cities, office buildings sit half finished in financial districts. Huge cranes still sit next to some of them. If the construction on a site was stopped, there is nothing left beyond a skyscraper skeleton and a security fence to keep vandals out.
As law firms, investment banks, car companies, retailers and other businesses cut jobs and move to cheaper offices, the commercial real estate industry is collapsing with astonishing speed. Few unfinished buildings are erected with cash from the developers. Banks put the money up for the physical location and structure, and perhaps even the rent from tenants, as security deposits in most cases. The land is no longer worth much. The buildings are half empty or unfinished and tenants are leaving, and, in many cases, defaulting on their leases. Lawsuits demanding payment of those obligations are long and expensive. As often as not, the former tenant could not afford to pay a judgment anyway.
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