This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• OUPblog: Oxford Word of the Year 2009: Unfriend, November 16, 2009. Every year the New Oxford American Dictionary prepares for the holidays by making its biggest announcement of the year.  This announcement is usually applauded by some and derided by others and the ongoing conversation it sparks is always a lot of fun, so I encourage you to let us know what you think in the comments.

Without further ado, the 2009 Word of the Year is: “unfriend”. “Unfriend” - verb - to remove someone as a “friend” on a social networking site such as Facebook.

• Martin Wolf (Financial Times): Grim truths Obama should have told Hu, November 17, 2009. Obama

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 17, 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: JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), Zions Bancorp (ZION), SunTrust Banks (STI) and PNC Financial (PNC).

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 Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Bank Failures Rise to 123

The failed banks were -- Century Bank, FSB of Sarasota, Florida with $728 million in assets and $631 million in deposits, Orion Bank of Naples, Florida with about $2.7 billion in assets and $2.1 billion in deposits and Pacific Coast National Bank of

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Regulators shut down 2 banks in Florida and 1 in California; U.S. bank failures reach 123 this year.   U.S. regulators on Friday shuttered two more banks in Florida and one in California. Though there are some early signs of economic recovery, bank failures continue unabated. This takes the total number of bank failures to 123, compared to 25 in 2008 and 3 in 2007.  The weak economy continues to weigh heavily on banks with a stream of loan defaults. As the industry has to tolerate bad loans that were made during the credit explosion, the trouble in the banking system goes even deeper, increasing the possibility of more bank failures. However, the regulators are trying to avoid panic by seizing banks slowly. Also, the slow seizing could be a strategy as it is hard to get buyers for so many failed banks.  The failed banks were ...

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Randall Forsyth (Barron’s): Synchronicity and stock prices, November 3, 2009. In a post-bubble world, equities move in sync with the cycle - worrying given the loss of momentum. As albert Edwards concludes, “the trend is your friend until it hits a bend. Beware, we may have just hit one.”

• Judy Chen (Bloomberg): Stiglitz says US is paying for failure to nationalize banks, November 2, 2009. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the world’s biggest economy is suffering because of the US government’s failure to nationalize banks during the financial crisis. “If we had done the right thing, we would be able to have more influence over the banks,” Stiglitz told reporters. “They would be lending and

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is contemplating buying tax credits from Fannie Mae (FNM). However, it may be reasonable to assume that the U.S. Treasury may not approve of the deal. Goldman hopes to receive approval this week for $1 billion worth of tax credits. Tax credits are incentives designed to bring more investment to low-income housing developments. This would help the company reduce its tax bill as well as bring some much-needed financial relief to Fannie Mae. While financial details of the proposed transaction are not disclosed, Goldman could arrange other investors for the deal as well. The Obama Administration, however, is opposed to the deal, as it will reduce Goldman's tax bill at a time when Wall Street is already facing intense public scrutiny. Fannie Mae, a government-controlled mortgage financier, could get financial relief if Goldman bought the tax credits. As ...

When our leaders have no awareness of the disastrous consequences of their actions, they can claim ignorance and take no action. Or when our leaders have no hard evidence as to what might happen in the future, they can at least claim uncertainty. But when they have full knowledge of an impending disaster … they have proof of its inevitability in ANY scenario … and they so declare in their official reports … but STILL don’t lift a finger to change course … then they have only one remaining claim: INSANITY! And, unfortunately, that’s precisely the situation we’re in today: Three recently released government reports now point to fiscal doomsday for America; and one of the reports, issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), says so explicitly: The ...

Third-quarter earnings season officially starts on Wednesday afternoon with Alcoa's (AA) report. The aluminum maker is expected to announce revenues of $4.5 billion and a loss of 11 cents per share. The results will look awful compared to last year because the commodity bubble peaked in Q308.

Joining AA will be 6 other S&P 500 members: Costco (COST), Family Dollar (FDO), Marriott (MAR), Monsanto (MON), Pepsi Bottling (PBG), PepsiCo (PEP) and Yum! Brands (YUM). We have confirmed scheduled reports from a total of 24 companies.

Economic data will largely take a backseat to the earnings news. There is comparatively little on the calendar, with the most newsworthy release being the September ISM services index. The weekly energy and mortgage applications reports could still influence trading, however.

Monday: September ISM services survey Wednesday: August consumer credit, September treasury budget, weekly crude inventories, weekly mortgage

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Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke proposed a new regulatory mechanism to monitor and respond to broad risks affecting the financial system. This would consist of a panel that would exist outside of the Fed, tapping resources from all agencies with current oversight over the financial system. The proposal is a move by Bernanke to thwart efforts to give the Fed more power. It also increases the potential penalties for taking excessive risk by imposing losses on shareholders and bondholders. Bernanke is bringing forth some good ideas. Particularly, his call for coordination across multiple agencies is something that should fortified by regulation. Clearly, the joint actions by the Fed and the Treasury Department have helped to prevent the current crisis from becoming worse. This said, turf wars in Washington may make accomplishing this goal difficult in the future. His proposal also ...

Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke proposed a new regulatory mechanism to monitor and respond to broad risks affecting the financial system. This would consist of a panel that would exist outside of the Fed, tapping resources from all agencies with current oversight over the financial system. The proposal is a move by Bernanke to thwart efforts to give the Fed more power. It also increases the potential penalties for taking excessive risk by imposing losses on shareholders and bondholders. Bernanke is bringing forth some good ideas. Particularly, his call for coordination across multiple agencies is something that should fortified by regulation. Clearly, the joint actions by the Fed and the Treasury Department have helped to prevent the current crisis from becoming worse. This said, turf wars in Washington may make accomplishing this goal difficult in the future. His proposal also ...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will aggressively pursue a trial against Bank of America Corp. (BAC) for allegedly misleading investors during the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. late last year. The SEC accused BofA of failing to disclose to shareholders that it had authorized Merrill to pay up to $5.8 billion in bonuses to employees in 2008 even after it lost $27.6 billion that year.

Last month, the SEC and BofA had reached a settlement on the charges that required the bank to pay a $33 million fine. But US District Judge Jed Rakoff condemned the deal, saying the corporate fine would further unfairly penalize the shareholders instead of the people actually guilty of misleading investors.

Both the SEC and BofA have defended the earlier settlement proposal as appropriate. But after Rakoff's ruling, the SEC weighed its options - to go to trial, drop the

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