Credit Writedowns

Why does the media report month to month statistics like they mean anything? It’s the year-on-year trend that is important. Note the headline in this item versus the reality. April pending home sales rise as prices tumble The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in April and seen as a key barometer of future [...]

Citigroup, Merrill, UBS Face Further Writedowns, Whitney Says By Jeff Kearns June 9 (Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS AG may post further writedowns of $10 billion on their debt holdings after the two biggest bond insurers were stripped of their AAA rankings, according to Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney. -Bloomberg News, 9 Jun 2008 [...]

RBS failed to get all the money it needed for its rights issue with 300 million shares still in the hands of its underwriters, reports the FT. These shares are to be sold today. This massive $24 billion (£ 12 billion) shows the limits of banks’ ability to raise capital and underscores that Barclays made the correct decision in not [...]

This sounds a lot like Bradford and Bingley in the UK. Lehman is really on the edge of collapsing. They need the money….NOW! One must believe the second leg down in bank credit write-offs and the credit crunch has started. By Steve GelsiLast update: 6:54 a.m. EDT June 9, 2008NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Monday said [...]

When was the last time you heard of a major U.S. home builder going bankrupt? It’s been quite a while. Even though my focus right now is firmly fixed on financial institutions and mortgage lenders, I have a watchful eye on home builders. After all, I believe that the next leg down in the housing bubble involves some mix of [...]

The FT reported today that Brazil, fattened by newly found oil reserves and a sky-high oil price, is getting into the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) game. They are ready to fund $200 billion toward this project and have built up the currency reserves to begin making that move. To date, most SWFs have been in Asia or the Middle East. [...]

Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture is on to something. He has found A Perfect Recession Indicator. Since 1953, when year-over-year Non-Farm payrolls have gone negative, there has been a recession. This happened nine out of nine times for a perfect score! (I actually looked at the data from 1939 and it scores two other direct hits in 1944 and [...]

I have posted a few times on the problem surrounding an imminent writedown wave for commercial real estate (CRE) and construction loans in the US. A few days back, I had intended to post more about regionals. The Wall Street Journal had a good article about this problem, singling out Wachovia and Bank of America as the major banks most [...]

The Sunday Telegraph is reporting yet another major Western bank is going cap in hand to sovereign wealth funds in order to stave off the inevitable crisis. This time its Barclays, Britain’s third largest bank. At a time when RBS is issuing a massive £12 billion of fresh capital by tapping its beleaguered shareholder base, Barclays must have decided it needed to go another route if it is to have success raising capital.

I am a Euroscpetic. I admire the political will of Europe’s grand designers in creating the Euro, but I have always felt that harmonisation would be a painful process fraught with tension – especially during economic downturns. And so it is today.

Unfortunately this IS the real deal, Evander Holyfield — you’re losing your house. HousingWire is reporting that Evander Holyfield has become the second major celebrity to succumb to buckling home prices and financial difficulty this week. Earlier in the week it was the aged Ed McMahon of Publisher’s Clearinghouse and Tonight show fame. Now, it’s Evander Holyfield. I’m sure there’s [...]

Latest Additions 2008 05 26 UBS Falls After Saying More Mortgage Losses Possible2008 05 27 Banks, Brokers Cut 83,000 Jobs as Subprime Losses Mount: Table2008 05 28 Ambac shares hit record low after new disclosure2008 05 28 KeyCorp Slide Foretells Losses at `Delusional’ Banks2008 05 29 Royal Bank of Canada Profit Drops on Writedowns2008 05 29 Royal Bank, National Profits [...]