For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 18, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: American Express Co. (AXP), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Mixed News for Credit Card Issuers

U.S. credit card issuers have reported a drop in the default rate for October, though delinquencies are rising as a result of continuing stress on consumers. While a decrease in the default rate reflects a decline

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U.S. credit card issuers have reported a drop in the default rate for October, though delinquencies are rising as a result of continuing stress on consumers. While a decrease in the default rate reflects a decline in late payments in the first half of the year, the increase in delinquencies is bad news for the sector as it implies that the companies could experience more charge-offs in the coming quarters.   Consumers remain under stress as a result of the weakness in the housing market, combined with job losses. Recently, Fitch has also expressed its concern about the credit card issuers in the U.S. Fitch expects U.S. credit card issuers’ earnings to remain challenged over the near term as a result of soaring unemployment, bankruptcies and losses.   The default rate (or charge-off rate) has improved in October from the prior month. For American Express Co. (AXP) it ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 8, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Bank of America Corporation (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM), Discover Financial Services (DFS), Citigroup (C) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

BofA Vows Not to Hike Card Rate

Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said on Tuesday that it will not raise rates or change terms on consumer credit card accounts before the new law (CARD Act) intended to reform industry practices takes

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Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said on Tuesday that it will not raise rates or change terms on consumer credit card accounts before the new law (CARD Act) intended to reform industry practices takes effect early next year. To manage costs in light of the sweeping new reforms to the credit card industry, in August 2009, BofA along with JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM) switched most fixed-rate cards to variable rates. Discover Financial Services (DFS) moved some of its cardholders from fixed to variable rates in June. Since most of the cards of Bank of America carry a variable rate, customers could still see rising interest rates as the interest is tied to the rise and fall of the prime rate. BofA also said that it will continue to re-price customers who are late on two or more payments in a one-year period....

On Sept. 8, Standard & Poor's (S&P) announced that U.S. credit card losses declined in July 2009. However, at the same time it anticipates that the forecasted bad loans would soon resume their upward trend as unemployment continues to escalate. The ratings agency's credit card quality index, which measures credit card loans that banks expect would default, fell to 9.8% in July from a record high of 10.4% in June, aided by cautious spending by consumers. Furthermore, loan losses also decreased as consumers used more tax refunds to pay down debts. However, the S&P warns that credit card losses will escalate again as the economy continues to shed thousands of jobs every month with unemployment rate at a 26-year high of 9.7% in August, 2009. S&P expects credit card loss rates to rise to a range of 10.5% to 13% based on its assumption that unemployment ...

[Editor's Note: After more than a year of chaos and controversy, some of the leading U.S. banks saw their stock prices soar during the second quarter. As part of its mid-year forecast series, Money Morning examines the outlook for U.S. banks for the rest of this year. To see earlier stories from our mid-year forecast series, please click here.] By Martin Hutchinson Contributing Editor Money Morning

Can U.S. bank stocks continue their winning streak?

In February, I analyzed the top 12 U.S. banks to determine whether they really needed $1.5 trillion in taxpayer-provided bailout capital. I concluded that only a few of those banks seemed to be in any danger of collapse, and actually recommended several.

Policymakers and the market later came to agree with me: The Standard & Poor’s 500 Financial Index has more than doubled from its March low and several bank stocks have posted triple-digit …

In a moment, I will tell you exactly how you can make some heavily leveraged gains as the stock of Capital One plummets.  But first, here’s an interesting true story.

Crystal is a single mother with three great kids.  Two years ago her mail box was stuffed with credit card offers.  Credit was so easy to come by then.  All she had to do was sign her name and mail back the application in the little postage-paid envelope.  A week or two later, her shiny new credit card arrived.

Crystal is a great mother, and her children are her pride and joy.  She owned her own home and always paid her bills on time… until she lost her job.

You see, Crystal had already tapped out her home-equity line of credit.  And the only way she could feed her kids was to buy groceries on her credit card.

Crystal’s credit card company was easy to work

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The Treasury Department cleared the way for as many as ten large banks to return $68 billion in bailout funds on Tuesday in a move that will ease rising concern among these companies regarding federal interference in matters of corporate governance.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), American Express Co. (AXP), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Capital One Financial Corp. (COF), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) and BB&T Corp. (BBT) are among the banks that have confirmed receiving permission from regulators to refund Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said, "These repayments are an encouraging sign of financial repair, but we still have work to do." Congress had created the $700 billion TARP fund last October to rescue beleaguered banks that threatened to capsize as the financial crisis deepened.

The Treasury had

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Highlights include Visa, Inc. (V), MasterCard, Inc. (MA), American Express Co. (AXP), Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC).Oh Great -- Potentially Another Government AgencyBased on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's comments that extensive changes are needed to see that the current financial crisis (arguably the worst in past 50 years) never is revisited, it appears that the Obama Administration is considering the concept of creating a new agency to focus on consumer financial products such as credit card, mortgages, mutual funds and 401K programs from such companies as but not limited to Visa, Inc. (V), MasterCard (MA), American Express (AXP), Capital One (COF) and Bank of America (BAC).We have long agreed with Elizabeth Warren, head of the Congressional Oversight Panel (Troubled Asset Relief Program), in her argument that the government ...

Highlights include Visa, Inc. (V), MasterCard, Inc. (MA), American Express Co. (AXP) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF).On Tuesday May 19, 2009, the Senate overwhelmingly voted to curtail credit card rate increases and excessive fees, in an attempt to give consumers (i.e. voting constituents) some latitude amid the current recession. It appears all that is needed is to have the executive branch sign off on it.If enacted into law, the players in the credit card industry -- such as, but not limited to, Visa (V), MasterCard (MA), American Express (AXP) and Capital One (COF) -- would have less than a year to make changes. These changes would include card lenders having to post their credit card agreements on the Internet, and permit all customers the ability pay their bills online or by phone without an added fee, rationalize ...