Highlights include American International Group, Inc. (AIG), Citigroup, Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC).This morning, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech on the topic of financial regulation and the lessons learned from the recent disaster. Here is a key section of the speech, with my thoughts interspersed: 

"Looking forward, I believe a more macroprudential approach to supervision--one that supplements the supervision of individual institutions to address risks to the financial system as a whole--could help to enhance overall financial stability. Our regulatory system must include the capacity to monitor, assess, and, if necessary, address potential systemic risks within the financial system. Elements of a macroprudential agenda include:   

"monitoring large or rapidly increasing exposures--such as to subprime mortgages--across firms and markets, rather than only at the level of individual firms ...

Monday January 5, 2009 Navivest

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has announced that it has signed a letter of intent to sell failed mortgage lender IndyMac, which was the seventh largest savings and loan and the second largest independent mortgage lender in the country when it failed and was seized by the FDIC on July 11, 2008, to a private equity consortium.

The transaction is being structured as a sale of New IndyMac to IMB HoldCo, which is controlled by IMB Management Holdings. IMB Management Holdings LP formed IMB Holdco LLC as a thrift holding company, which will be the parent of the purchased New IndyMac.

Steven Mnuchin, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, who is currently the Chairman of Dune Capital Management, leads the consortium. The new CEO of the new IndyMac will be Terry Laughlin, who was most recently, the Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch Bank

...

just a few short weeks, America has gone from looking at a potential economic downturn to staring into an economic abyss. In a matter of days, confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to unfreeze our nation’s credit markets has nearly vanished. And now, to add insult to injury, the Fed has decided to start financing business corporations directly. No wonder investors are looking for an escape from this madness! And no wonder gold is performing far better than virtually any other commodity! Here’s how this crisis has unfolded and where it could be headed … Wall Street’s Vote of No Confidence The market has shown how ineffective it thought the $700 billion bailout would be on Friday when stocks cratered … again on Monday … and still ...

Today, the big news that could move commodities is not in China or the Middle East -- it's right here at home. US banks are failing and the Federal Government is going to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I think this has big implications for the US dollar, and not in a good way. I'll be writing more about this in Wednesday's Money and Markets. For now, here is some news of interest ... Fannie, Freddie Too Critical to Fail, Lawmakers Say A government takeover of one or both companies is among several options that have been considered by White House officials, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity. Senior Bush administration officials are considering placing either or both firms in a conservatorship if their problems get worse, the person said. Paulson Puts Treasury Behind Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac in Bid to Calm Market Paulson, speaking on the steps of the Treasury facing the White ...

In Cramer’s May 15 Sell Block segment, “The Newest Mortgage Offenders,” why did the Mad Money guru slam IndyMac?

IndyMac’s bad loans are skyrocketing, the company keeps diluting shareholders as shares outstanding continue to build up. And it isn’t even saying it can be profitable this year as it remains heavily exposed to the worst areas of the California market, which make up nearly 50% of its holdings.

At one time, IndyMac (IMB) made my Small Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy). But that was a long time ago. These days it doesn’t even make it past my initial screens.