I was reading Kid Dynamite’s account of the recent Treasury – Finance Blogger meeting after having read a bunch of others (see them all in Abnormal Returns’ Nov 4th links). And I was struck by his characterization of the thinking at Treasury in regards to the financial crisis. I want to highlight two points and [...]

Kyle, a long-time reader, recently asked why I think mark-to-market accounting actually matters.  After alI, savvy investors know that accounting does not necessarily change cash flows.  I think his question has a lot to do with not just accounting, but also with the stress tests.
Kyle writes:
My point is that it has really NOT changed, and [...]

I forgot to add this to my links.  Very funny Saturday Night Live clip spoofing Timothy Geithner.  See the link here.
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I found this story and video of Bill Black on Tech Ticker (hat tip Larry Doyle). Basically, Black thinks the stress tests were a joke, a common theme heard from those in the know. Listen to what he says about a really difficult stress test we gave Fannie Mac ten years ago.
Results of [...]

In case you missed it, this is Tim Geithner talking stress tests this past Wednesday on Charlie Rose.

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In the CNBC video below, Ken Lewis defends his company’s performance on the stress test and answers some pointed questions in the John Thain – Ben Bernanke – Ken Lewis – Hank Paulson he said she said match.  He also details how Bank of America plans to raise the $34 billion in capital to deal [...]

This came to me in my inbox seconds ago:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Sheila C. Bair today commented on the release of the results of the Capital Assessment Program.
Chairman Bair said: "I want to commend the Federal Reserve for leading the stress assessment exercise and believe that this effort will serve to strengthen the [...]

UPDATE: These are the actual results:
Ten of the 19 largest U.S. financial institutions will be required to raise a combined $75 billion in capital, as the U.S. government for the first time divided healthy banks from those which may need help to weather a worsening economy.
U.S. officials stressed that the move [...]

If you haven’t noticed, the Treasury department seems to be leaking the results of the stress tests to reporters at the Wall Street Journal.  Richard Bove, a well-known bank analyst was on Bloomberg Radio this morning talking to Tom Keene and said he knows they have been leaking.  Yves Smith was on top of this [...]

Warren Buffet speaks with CNBC in the lead up to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.  He talks a bit about stress tests and Citigroup.  When asked about Wells Fargo, he says he administers his own stress tests and that Wells passes “with flying colors.”
He also uses an analogy of a commodities producer selling copper for [...]