This guest blog entry by Tristan Yates is a follow-up to “Are America’s banks really insolvent?” and is part of the important effort to understand and evaluate the depth and breadth of the financial crisis. For The Curious Investor’s take and to leave your own thoughts check out this post’s comments thread.

What kind of losses is the banking industry facing? And are all of the banks really insolvent? Although the answers are critical inputs for any economic decisions, it has been far easier to find dire predictions than real analysis and evidence.

But for anyone looking for hard numbers, the FDIC’s Q42008 Quarterly Banking Profile is perhaps the most useful report published to date. Just in the first paragraph, the agency reveals the following:

The total loss to the insured institutions sector this quarter was $26.2B, the worst on record. Losses were due to high expenses for ...

MyECheck Inc. is a financial electronic transaction processor and provider of alternative payment solutions for internet and mobile commerce. In the past two days the stock has risen 35.38% and 19.32% respectively. A $10,000 investment on Monday would have resulted in a return of $16,153.85 in just 48 hours.

The consumer services sector has actually lost over 2% as a whole in the same two-day period that MyECheck has shown the impressive gain of over 61%. Monday’s 35% gain took place on 89,882 shares while today’s 19% gain took place with 97,717 shares traded. In that short window of time, the recently volatile Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained only 38 points on below average trading volume.

One advantage to the services offered by MyECheck Inc. is that they are mutually beneficial to both the buyer and seller. Their

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By William Patalon III Executive Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report As rocky as the global markets have been, the worst is yet to come, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (ADR: RBS) warns. RBS analysts have warned clients to brace for a full-blown crash in the global stock-and-bond markets over the next three months as the conflicting realities of slowing growth and rising inflation paralyze the world’s major central banks - causing “all the chickens [to] come home to roost,” Great Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. The report, which first surfaced late Wednesday, raced across the Internet yesterday (Thursday), though it appears that European news organizations are giving it much wider play than their U.S. counterparts. The predicted swoon would cause the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index - already down 15% from its trading high of 1,576.09 reached ...

Ultralife Batteries Inc. (ULBI), a battery company that also offers products and services ranging from portable and standby power solutions to communications and electronics systems, recently increased the company’s second quarter 2008 revenue outlook from $65 million to $70 million to more than $75 million as product demand continues to increase and customers require expedited deliveries.

Ultralife’s stock posted a 25% increase in trading volume following the release of the higher earnings estimate. After evaluating recent sales and deliveries, the company boosted its earnings estimate due to strong demand from government, defense and commercial customers across the globe and increased shipments over the past quarter.

During the first quarter of this year, Ultralife Batteries formed a joint venture with its distributor partner in India. This new entity, Ultralife Batteries India Private Limited, is expected to expand the company’s global market share and increase sales to commercial, government and defense accounts throughout

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