Investors have filed a class action lawsuit against Regions Financial Corporation (RF) on charges that the bank had obtained shareholders’ approval for the 2006 acquisition of AmSouth Bancorp by misleading investors about its own financial condition.  In November 2006, when the bank announced to purchase AmSouth Bancorp for $10 billion, it allegedly made false representations about the benefits of combining the two banks into a single operation. AmSouth Bancorp has a significant presence in residential loans in Florida market, which suffered losses when the housing bubble burst. Thus, the investors had been unaware that the purchase would expose the company to potential losses.  In January 2009, Regions announced a $6 billion write-down of goodwill stemming from the AmSouth acquisition. AmSouth was supposed to bring about $6 billion in goodwill to Regions, besides the prospects of doubling its operations in Florida's real estate market. Regions had overstated ...

U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg has been advised by a top U.S. labor group on Thursday to stop the retirement payments to Bank of America Corporation’s (BAC) Chief Executive Ken Lewis, who will leave the company by the end of this year. In a letter, the Service Employees International Union said that the pay czar should not allow Lewis to receive any retirement or severance package until the bank stops foreclosures and increases lending. Bank of America has already received $200 billion in taxpayers’ money as bailouts. BofA has been one of the largest beneficiaries of the federal bailout program, receiving $45 billion from a total of $700 billion. The company faces many lawsuits and investigations by lawmakers and regulators over the Merrill Lynch acquisition, which has made it the largest U.S. bank. Lewis faces possible legal problems over BofA’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co....

Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said on Monday that it will spend $20 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 to re-launch the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management brand. Following the re-launch, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management will be one of two primary units in Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division. Concurrently, BofA also announced the upcoming launch of the new help2 marketing campaign of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, which reaffirms the value of the combined organization and brings to life the powerful potential of the one-to-one relationship between Merrill Lynch Financial Advisors and their clients. Several senior executives departed after Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch in January 2009. However, with the recovery of the industry the trend has reversed. Merrill Lynch is now adding more advisers to its 15,000-member broker force. As part of the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief ...

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said Tuesday that the bank is expected to repay the bailout money it has received from the government in relation to its participation in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in installments. The government is also pushing the bank to pay at least $500 million to conclude a tentative pact in which the government agreed to share losses on certain BofA assets. The installment payments would enable BofA to gradually reduce government involvement in its affairs. However, unlike the other banks, BofA does not intend to repay its entire $45 billion support from the TARP in lump sum, as it has faced mounting loan losses as more customers default. But it may start with the repayment of $20 billion, which it received as part of the total aid to absorb loss-making investment bank Merrill ...

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

X-Treme Hot Stock Alert by DrStockPick.com

C, RMBS, BEHL, TIVO

 

Sunday September 6, 2009

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C, Citigroup, Inc.

C (Citigroup, Inc.) is a global financial services company, provides consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions with a range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management.

The KIA (Kuwait Investment Authority) invested $3 billion in Citigroup (C) and $2 billion in Merrill Lynch when they needed cash following losses stemming from the credit crisis.

Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund has no plans to sell in the near term stakes in Citigroup Inc.(C) and Merrill

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Based on a ranking analysis released on Wednesday by Virginia-based research firm SNL Financial, Bank of America Corporation (BAC) still remains the highest ranked banking institution in U.S. by second-quarter total assets. The analysis was based on the filings of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). According to the filing, as of June 30, 2009, Bank of America has total assets of $2.3 trillion and total deposits of $971 billion.   Earlier this week, Bank of America offered to repay a part of the $45 billion it had received from the U.S. government in relation to its participation in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Also, the repayment offer was aimed to end a loss-sharing deal with the government related to its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. The completion of the payments would enable Bank of America to reduce part of government involvement in its affairs....

The U.S. pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, has started a 60-day schedule to review the aptness of the richest pay packages proposed by seven financial firms that received $200 billion in government aid. Feinberg has started his review on pay packages for 25 of the most highly compensated executives at firms that received substantial support from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The seven firms whose plans will be scrutinized are Citigroup Inc. (C), American International Group Inc. (AIG), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors and GMAC Inc. On Monday, Feinberg, who has been verifying the submissions since they were due at the Treasury, sent letters to all seven institutions informing them that the pay plans they submitted were deemed substantially complete. The government has laid out general principles that will guide Feinberg's decisions. Also, the Treasury wants ...

Bank of America Corporation (BAC) intends to pay back some of the bailout money it has received from the government in its participation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The government is also pushing the bank to pay at least $500 million to conclude a tentative pact in which the government agreed to share losses on certain BofA assets. The completion of the payments would enable BofA to reduce a part of the government's involvement in its affairs. Some of the large financial firms that have already repaid government fund are Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK), Goldman Sachs (GS), U.S. Bancorp (USB), American Express Company (AXP), BB&T Corporation (BBT) and State Street Corporation (STT). The repayment of government money can be viewed as a sign of recovery of the institutions as ...

Wall Street “gurus” come and go, but in the case of Bob Farrell legendary status was achieved. He spent several decades as chief stock market analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. and had a front-row seat at the go-go markets of the late 1960s, mid-1980s and late 1990s, the brutal bear market of 1973-74, and October 1987 crash.

Farrell retired in 1992, but his famous “10 Market Rules to Remember” have lived on and are summarized below, courtesy of The Big Picture and MarketWatch (June 2008). The words of wisdom are timeless and are especially appropriate as investors grapple with the difficult juncture at which stock markets find themselves at this stage.

1. Markets tend to return to the mean over time When stocks go too far in one direction, they come back. Euphoria and pessimism can cloud people’s heads. It’s easy to get caught

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“Words from the Wise” this week comes to you in a shortened format as I do not have access to my normal research resources while on the road in Europe (also see my post “Gone A.W.O.L. - to Slovenia and Switzerland“). Although very little commentary is provided, a full dose of excerpts from interesting news items and quotes from market commentators is included.

While investors’ hopes of an economic recovery might have got ahead of reality, the cartoonists continually reminded us of worrisome issues …

Source: Signe Wilkinson, Washington Post,  June 18, 2009.

The past week’s performance of the major asset classes is summarized by the chart below - a mixed bag so to speak.

Source: StockCharts.com

A summary of

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