Displaying items by tag: Banks

After having just stating in an interview earlier this week that although many banks are probably guilty of what Lehman was caught doing with Repo 105's pursuing those actions based upon semantics may be fruitless (it may be called depo 106?), Reuters comes out with this interesting story: Major US banks masked risk levels: report

(Reuters) - Major U.S. banks temporarily lowered their debt levels just before reporting in the past five quarters, making it appear their balance sheets were less risky, the Wall Street Journal said, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The paper said on Friday 18 banks, including Goldman Sachs Group , Morgan Stanley , J.P. Morgan Chase Bank of America and Citigroup , understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42 percent at the end of each period.

The banks had increased their debt in the middle of successive quarters, it said.

Citi, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

Excessive leverage by the banks was one of the causes that led to the global financial crisis in 2008.

Due to the credit crisis, banks have become more sensitive about showing high levels of debt and risk, worried their stocks and credit ratings could be punished, the Journal said.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal (see their interactive model) and ZeroHedge broke a similar storty with some meat behind it to justify the allegations. Ahhh!!! The return of real reporting, and not just from blogs!

After having just stating in an interview earlier this week that although many banks are probably guilty of what Lehman was caught doing with Repo 105's pursuing those actions based upon semantics may be fruitless (it may be called depo 106?), Reuters comes out with this interesting story: Major US banks masked risk levels: report

(Reuters) - Major U.S. banks temporarily lowered their debt levels just before reporting in the past five quarters, making it appear their balance sheets were less risky, the Wall Street Journal said, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The paper said on Friday 18 banks, including Goldman Sachs Group , Morgan Stanley , J.P. Morgan Chase Bank of America and Citigroup , understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42 percent at the end of each period.

The banks had increased their debt in the middle of successive quarters, it said.

Citi, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

Excessive leverage by the banks was one of the causes that led to the global financial crisis in 2008.

Due to the credit crisis, banks have become more sensitive about showing high levels of debt and risk, worried their stocks and credit ratings could be punished, the Journal said.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal (see their interactive model) and ZeroHedge broke a similar storty with some meat behind it to justify the allegations. Ahhh!!! The return of real reporting, and not just from blogs!

From Banks, Brokers, & Bullsh1+ part 1:

A thorough forensic analysis of Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman Brothers has uncovered...

From Banks, Brokers, & Bullsh1+ part 1:

A thorough forensic analysis of Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman Brothers has uncovered...

Implied volatility for the big banks is down across the board, just about where it was before the system went into convulsions. This implies the coast is clear, as do the share prices of many banks.

Hard core forensic and fundamental analysis implies otherwise. So does the Fed's actions, which still incorporates ZIRP policy, as well as the waffling at FASB. We will either have smooth sailing from this point on out or there is a nasty surprise waiting (on and off balance sheet) for bank investors in the near future. I invite readers to weigh in with their opinions.

As you can see, we are just about where we were in 2007 in terms of average volatility. 

Implied volatility for the big banks is down across the board, just about where it was before the system went into convulsions. This implies the coast is clear, as do the share prices of many banks.

Hard core forensic and fundamental analysis implies otherwise. So does the Fed's actions, which still incorporates ZIRP policy, as well as the waffling at FASB. We will either have smooth sailing from this point on out or there is a nasty surprise waiting (on and off balance sheet) for bank investors in the near future. I invite readers to weigh in with their opinions.

As you can see, we are just about where we were in 2007 in terms of average volatility. 

I will start posting more news topics of interest and welcome readers to forward research and investment ideas at will. Here is the crop from last week. I will post topics from the weekend later on today, and as usual will randomly comment on daily news events.

From Alliance Bernstein:

• Core Intermediate Producer Prices have taken 6 months to rise 5.2% annualized, recession of 2002 took 2 years to reach same level
• Operating Rate hit low of 65.4% last year and has only risen to 69.4%, still short of historical threshold causing rise in raw material prices (74%)
• Increases in foreign operating rates have started to indicate US may now be a price follower instead of price leader
• The Fed cited lack of resource utilization as reasoning for maintaining record low rates, as these concerns begin to wane Alliance Bernstein sees easing of emergency Fed policy

Bloomberg.com:

• Christina Romer, Peter Orszag, and Tim Geithner have predicted unemployment will settle in 2010 at around 9.7%, citing poor job conditions
• Federal deficit projections for 2011 & 2015 are $1.5 trillion & $751 billion respectively, White House officials cite Bush's medicare and income tax cuts for allowing deficit insanity

I will start posting more news topics of interest and welcome readers to forward research and investment ideas at will. Here is the crop from last week. I will post topics from the weekend later on today, and as usual will randomly comment on daily news events.

From Alliance Bernstein:

• Core Intermediate Producer Prices have taken 6 months to rise 5.2% annualized, recession of 2002 took 2 years to reach same level
• Operating Rate hit low of 65.4% last year and has only risen to 69.4%, still short of historical threshold causing rise in raw material prices (74%)
• Increases in foreign operating rates have started to indicate US may now be a price follower instead of price leader
• The Fed cited lack of resource utilization as reasoning for maintaining record low rates, as these concerns begin to wane Alliance Bernstein sees easing of emergency Fed policy

Bloomberg.com:

• Christina Romer, Peter Orszag, and Tim Geithner have predicted unemployment will settle in 2010 at around 9.7%, citing poor job conditions
• Federal deficit projections for 2011 & 2015 are $1.5 trillion & $751 billion respectively, White House officials cite Bush's medicare and income tax cuts for allowing deficit insanity

The Greek Tragedy is unfolding pretty much as I expected. Readers, at least (if not Greek citizens) should be comforted to hear that things are going as anticipated. From CNBC: Greek Bank Shares Fall on EU Support Worries

Greek bank shares fell more than 4.0 percent on Thursday, underperforming the broader Greek market, on worries Greece may be forced to turn to the IMF to deal with its debt crisis for want of EU aid.

"There are concerns over the lack of concrete EU support and because Greece seems to be dragged towards the last resort, which is the International Monetary Fund," Cyclos Securities analyst Constantinos Vergos said.

Shares in National Bank, which reports full-year results after the market's close, were down 3.8 percent to 15.03 euros, withAlpha Bank shedding 4.1 percent. 

"The IMF scenario was off the table but now seems to be coming back, raising question marks as to what this would entail," said analyst Nikos Koskoletos at EFG Eurobank Securiries.

For those subscribers who didn't get to act on my Greek bank warning a while back (see  Banks exposed to Central and Eastern Europe and  Greek Banking Fundamental Tear Sheet), don't fret. If I continue to be correct, this is but the tip of the iceberg, subscribers see Greece Public Finances Projections). The Greek PM is implicitly backing my analysis: Papandreou Urges EU Emergency Plan After German Officials Suggest IMF Aid

The Greek Tragedy is unfolding pretty much as I expected. Readers, at least (if not Greek citizens) should be comforted to hear that things are going as anticipated. From CNBC: Greek Bank Shares Fall on EU Support Worries

Greek bank shares fell more than 4.0 percent on Thursday, underperforming the broader Greek market, on worries Greece may be forced to turn to the IMF to deal with its debt crisis for want of EU aid.

"There are concerns over the lack of concrete EU support and because Greece seems to be dragged towards the last resort, which is the International Monetary Fund," Cyclos Securities analyst Constantinos Vergos said.

Shares in National Bank, which reports full-year results after the market's close, were down 3.8 percent to 15.03 euros, withAlpha Bank shedding 4.1 percent. 

"The IMF scenario was off the table but now seems to be coming back, raising question marks as to what this would entail," said analyst Nikos Koskoletos at EFG Eurobank Securiries.

For those subscribers who didn't get to act on my Greek bank warning a while back (see  Banks exposed to Central and Eastern Europe and  Greek Banking Fundamental Tear Sheet), don't fret. If I continue to be correct, this is but the tip of the iceberg, subscribers see Greece Public Finances Projections). The Greek PM is implicitly backing my analysis: Papandreou Urges EU Emergency Plan After German Officials Suggest IMF Aid