Archive for November, 2009
U.S. Trade Deficit Soars 18.2 Percent In September
The Commerce Department announced Friday that the U.S. Trade Deficit hit $36.5 billion in September, the largest amount since this past January. The figure topped the $31.5 billion economists’ were expecting and marks the largest month-over-month increase since the late 1990’s. The 18.2 percent deficit increase from August to September is the largest of this [...]
Lending Club Offers No-Fee IRA Option for P2P Lenders
P2P Lending Firm, Lending Club, has recently announced an option to for investors making P2P loans to invest through an individual retirement arrangement (IRA), allowing tax-free investing in the fledgling peer-to-peer loan industry. Lending Club has begun offering its investors the ability to open up traditional IRA accounts, Roth IRA accounts and simplified employee pension [...]
Prosper.com Moves into Consumer Financing with Zero Motorcycles Partnership
P2p lending Firm, Prosper.com, is looking to generate revenue by targeting on consumers that are environmentally friendly by partnering with Zero, an electric motorcycle manufacturer, to offer a peer-to-peer lending-based financing option for motorcycle buyers. When a buyer makes a purchase from Zero Motorcycles, customers can opt to create a listing on Prosper.com to finance [...]
Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) Highly Undervalued Says Analyst Richard Bove
Banking analyst Richard Bove recently stated that shares of Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), with its strong prospects for significant growth, are way undervalued, and should be priced at double its current valuation. Bove recommends a strong buy on the stock. Bove has a target price of $42 for Bank of New York [...]
FDIC Board Unanimously Approves $45 Billion Prepay for Banks to Shore Up Deposit Insurance Fund
In an expected move, the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. unanimously approved a 3-year prepayment by banks to the tune of $45 billion in order to put liquidity back into the Deposit Insurance Fund, which ran out of money in the third quarter, and has been running at a deficit ever since. The [...]
Bank Customers Must Give Consent Under New Overdraft Rules
In response to complaints from consumers over unexpected overdraft fees from banks, the Federal Reserve instituted a new rule which forces banks to secure consent from the consumer before allowing them to overdraft their accounts, which can result in significant fees. The reasoning behind the new rule is consumers say they assume when they use [...]
Charles Schwab (NASDAQ:SCHW) Pressuring Competitors in New ETF Business Strategy – Capitalism at its Best!
There’s no secret to the simple but effective strategy employed by Charles Schwab (NASDAQ:SCHW) to expand its scale and attempt to dominate the low-cost trading sector it serves. To that end, earlier in the month they launched several ETFs with extremely low fees and free trades for those ETFs through its online trading platform. Schwabs [...]
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Survey of Texans Shows Consumers Still Tightening Belts
A survey of Texas residents by Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) confirms that consumers are still holding back on buying, and putting off spending on major products until the economy gets better. Some of the findings of the survey were indicative of what is happening across the entire country, as people are not only holding back on [...]
Pay Czar Concerned AIG (NYSE: AIG), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Other Firms Could Lose Top Talent
The Treasury Department’s “pay czar”, Kenneth Feinberg, commented on Thursday that he is concerned about scaring away some of the best talent at seven firms, including Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and American International Group (NYSE: AIG), which received the largest bailouts from the U.S. government. Feinberg commented, “The determinations I render I design first [...]
Report from ‘Pew Center on the States’ Confirms U.S. Economic Recovery a Myth and Need for Limited Government
In a devastating report on the fiscal condition of states across America, a report from the Pew Center on the States found that, along with California, nine other states are approaching similar crises. This of course raises the question of if there is an economic recovery, how come these states are declining in economic and [...]
AIG (NYSE: AIG) CEO Staying At The Helm
AIG (NYSE: AIG) landed in the news again today, as we learn that Chief Executive Robert Benmosche tried to calm fears today that he was about to jump ship, with an open letter to employees announcing he was “totally committed to leading A.I.G. through its challenges.” Benmosche became the firm’s CEO just months ago, and [...]
Why is Wells Fargo’s (NYSE:WFC) Tier 1 Capital-asset Ratio the Taxpayers’ Problem?
It didn’t bother Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), which Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) has a major stake in, to accept taxpayer funds in order to secure capital when credit was tight, so why does the company even further their use of the funds of taxpayers by making it’s own rules on when to pay [...]
Citibank (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Begin Charging $7.50-$8.95 Monthly Fees for Checking Accounts
Citibank (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and scores of other banks have begun charging new and higher monthly fees for holding checking accounts. Citibank customers with Access or EZ checking accounts will now be charged a $7.50 monthly fee unless they maintain a minimum balance of $1,500. Previously, the monthly fee could be [...]
ING Groep NV (NYSE: ING) Commits to Repay Government Loans Early, Makes $750 Million 3rd Quarter Profit
Dutch financial services company, ING Groep NV, made a EUR 499 ($750 million) net profit during the third-quarter, helped by improving investment markets and a new focus on growth opportunities in its banking business. ING Chief Executive, Jan Hommen, says that the bank wants to repay the remainder of the EUR 10 billion aid that [...]
Citibank (NYSE: C) Wins Major Case Related to Auction-Rate Arbitration
Citigroup (NYSE: C) Global Markets Inc. won a in major arbitration claim that was brought forth by Banco Industrial de Venezuela, over a $118.7 million investment in auction-rate securities. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s arbitration panel dismissed all claims brought forth by the state-owned bank’s Miami agency against Citigroup Global Markets, which was then doing [...]
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