Commercial Real Estate – why now’s the time to buy!
David Fessler, regular contributor to Investment U, shares his current analysis of the Commercial Real Estate market – and why now might be the time to jump right in!
Citibank yanks MasterCards
Could banks have any less respect for their customers? Citibank (C) has begun closing customers’ accounts without telling them. That’s a bitter surprise for some people who pull out their cards to make a purchase, only to learn that the card has b…
Executive perks at bailed-out banks still rising
The salary of banking executives is a sore point with, well, everyone, but the perks are just getting better.
Financial firms that received taxpayer bailout money boosted their executive perks about 4% on average last year, the Washington Post reports….
Credit losses threaten bank recovery
The Dow Industrials tumbled back under the psychologically important 10,000 threshold on Friday after some surprisingly bad news from the banks jarred the bulls out of their complacency.
Bank of America (BAC) reported a third-quarter loss of $2.2 bil…
The rebirth of the American consumer
Don’t look now, but a nation of shoppers is about to be reborn. Thanks to rising stock prices, stabilizing home values, increased savings, improved confidence in the economy, and reduced debt, there is building evidence that the quintessentially Amer…
Why You Need to Look at these Three ‘Zombie-Free Zones’
Quantum Fund co-founder George Soros had it right on Monday, when he said the U.S. recovery would be held back by “basically bankrupt” banks and companies.
I call them the “zombies,” the institutions being propped up by government bailouts. Companies like Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC, etc. On an operating level, these walking dead are sucking the life out of the recovery.
Unlike in previous downturns, huge resources have been devoted to propping up entities that should have been taken out of the picture.
Of course, it’s easy to avoid zombies directly. No one is going to force you to take a position in GM. But if you really want to know where to look…
In Goldman vs. rest of the world, Goldman’s winning
This article is written by Minyanville’s Megan Barnett This week has seen yet another round in the battle between Goldman Sachs (GS) and the Rest of the World. See also, Goldman Sachs Lightning Bolt Sparks Rally. On Monday, Goldman Sachs analysts Richa…
Paulson’s little white lie
It seems that Henry Paulson was a bit too optimistic about the prospects of several banks which received TARP funds at the end of last year. The Treasury Department’s inspector general Neil Barofsky reports that the department “lost credibility” …
TARP recipients abuse borrowers
Over the weekend, McClatchy Newspapers had two powerful articles entitled “Help with mortgages is difficult to come by” and “Some firms with spotty pasts get tax dollars.” The articles expose how firms like Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and Morg…
Boom, Bust and Rebuild: Bank of America and the Kenneth Lewis Legacy
Kenneth D. Lewis There are many ways to view Kenneth Lewis’ eight-year reign as Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) chief executive, but two seem to hold the most landscape.
On one hand, the $130 billion he spent on acquisitions – FleetBoston Financial Corp., MBNA Corp., LaSalle Bank Corp., Countrywide Financial Corp., Charles Schwab Corp.’s (Nasdaq: SCHW) U.S. Trust private banking unit and Merrill Lynch – that more than tripled the size of Bank of America, making it the largest U.S. lender both by assets and deposits.
On the other, his open-wallet policy and the example it set forth almost perfectly encapsulates the boom, bust and nascent rebound of the U.S. housing and banking crisis – which later became the financial…
Where are the grownups at B of A?
Investors should be aware of the executive succession plans at companies they invest in. Have these firms taken steps to ensure that leadership will continue smoothly, in case of a sudden departure by the chief executive?The issue dogged Apple (A…
Charlotte, city in panic
I moved to Charlotte right in the middle of its Golden Age. Hugh McColl and Ed Crutchfield, two local good old boys, had built not one but two international banking empires in the same town and it looked like there was no stopping them from becoming ev…
Ken Lewis’ $125 million goodbye
When Ken Lewis finally leaves Bank of America (BAC), he will get a $125 million goodbye from the financial firm, unless the federal government’s pay czar decides to challenge the package.
Most of the Lewis compensation was set long before the big ban…