For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 14, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today’s outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the U.S. Banks sector. Highlighted stocks include: Ocwen Financial Corp (OCN), Wilmington Trust Corporation (WL), KeyCorp (KEY) and Zions Bancorp (ZION).

Here is the latest on the U.S. Banks sector:

We recently upgraded our recommendation on Ocwen Financial Corp (OCN) to a Buy, as this company could be a major beneficiary of the President's Home Affordable Modification Plan, which provides incentives for loan modifications to the borrower, the investor, and the servicer. OCN was appointed by a major GRE as one of the servicers for the new pilot initiative launched to identify borrowers who are at a risk of foreclosure. Recently the Treasury extended TALF to include securities backed by servicing advances,

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 26, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today's outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the Insurance sector. Highlighted stocks include: PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE), Amerisafe, Inc. (AMSF), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Primus Guaranty (PRS) and PMI Group (PMI).

Here is the latest on the Insurance sector:

We remain positive on reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE) due to its excellent underwriting abilities, strong capitalization, solid ratings and reputation in the market, which will enable it to take advantage of the stronger demand and better pricing being witnessed currently. We also have a Buy rating on Amerisafe, Inc. (AMSF) in view of its strong capital position and sustained improvement in the results.

Currently we do not have any Sell recommendations on insurance stocks under

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 15, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the latest Industry Outlook. Today's interview is with senior analyst Neena Mishra, who talks about the U.S. Banks Industry, including Wilmington Trust Corporation (WL), KeyCorp (KEY), Zions Bancorp (ZION), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Sallie Mae (SLM).

A synopsis of today's Industry Outlook is presented below. The full article can be read at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678.

As a result of a rise in charge-offs, the levels of reserve coverage have fallen over the past quarters and the banks will have to make higher provisions in the coming quarters, affecting the profitability. Also, the banks will also continue to take mark-downs in the investment portfolios, further hurting the bottom-line.

Banks with high exposure to housing and Commercial Real Estate loans, like Wilmington Trust Corporation (WL),

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This morning, the head of the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) of the TARP program, Elizabeth Warren, called for a "stress-test do-over." The reason is that the original stress test might have been based on economic assumptions that were too optimistic.This was a point that I and our banking analysts Eric Rothmann and Neena Mishra made repeatedly before the original test results were made public (and Zacks was not alone in that assessment either). I certainly agree, particularly the baseline assumptions. The more adverse scenario is what has been playing out so far, or at least the actual numbers are more in line with it than with the baseline.There were three key sets of economic assumptions that went into each stress test scenario: real GDP, unemployment and housing prices. Relative to the scenarios, the economy has been doing best on the GDP front, with an actual ...

Highlights include Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), SunTrust Banks, Inc. (STI), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and BB&T Corp. (BBT). New Trend in Bank Seizures, or Just a One-Off Event? It has become de rigueur -- if it's a Friday, there's going to be another bank or thrift being seized by the U.S. Banking regulators (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency). And this Friday was no exception, with two banks seized: Citizens Community Bank in Ridgewood, NJ and Silverton Bank in Atlanta, GA. This brings the number of seized banks and thrifts to 29 for 2009. However, Silverton was a commercial bank that provided correspondent banking services (credit card operations, clearing accounts, investments, consulting, purchasing loans and selling loan participations)

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 27, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today's outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the Insurance sector. Highlighted stocks include: PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Primus Guaranty (PRS) and PMI Group (PMI).

Here is the latest on the Insurance sector:

We remain positive on reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE) due to its excellent underwriting abilities, strong capitalization, solid ratings and reputation in the market, which will enable it to take advantage of the stronger demand and better pricing being witnessed currently.

We have Sell recommendation on Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), as we suspect that the company will face higher losses on the investment portfolio and its variable annuity business.

Primus Guaranty (PRS), a seller of credit default swaps, will face increased losses from its exposure to

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The rally has lasted longer than I ever expected. It's good to see the bulls come out, but I'm not joining their party.

After all, the big move has only brought the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) up to early February levels. How confident were you feeling about the markets 2 months ago? My guess is that you were worried.

But sentiment is better now. Why? There is a belief that we've seen the bottom and the U.S. is moving closer to a recovery.

Certainly, there are signs of improvement. The pace of economic deterioration has slowed. Profits for many companies are not as bad as feared. Even the VIX, a measure of fear, is falling.

On the other hand, we have yet to solve the automotive or bank problems.

Though Larry Kudlow didn't want to hear me bring it up, General Motors (GM) is a

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 2, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today's outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the U.S. Banks sector. Highlighted stocks include: < Wilmington Trust Corporation (WL), KeyCorp (KEY), Comerica (CMA), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Sallie Mae (SLM).

Here is the latest on the U.S. Banks sector:

It was recently reported that U.S. credit card delinquencies rose to a record high in February and are expected to rise further. We expect the asset quality deterioration to continue at least through the end of FY09.

As a result of rise in charge-offs, the levels of reserve coverage have fallen over the past quarters and the banks will have to make higher provisions in the coming quarters, affecting the profitability. Further, the banks will also continue to take mark-downs in the investment

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Highlights include Citigroup Inc. (C), Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC).So far, most of the activity of the Obama Administration has been focused on cleaning up the existing mess. Today, it is turning its attention to preventing new, potentially world-threatening financial messes from occurring in the future. Please read Neena Mishra's blog for the details for regulatory overhaul proposed.One of the most important underlying factors in causing the current financial crisis -- and the resulting economic downturn -- was the gutting of the financial regulatory regime set up in the wake of the Great Depression, as well as the adamant refusal of the regulators to actually enforce the few regulations that remained.Lest someone think that I am being too partisan, I will ...

We see today that GMAC, the former exclusive financial arm of General Motors Corporation (GM) which is now only 49% owned by the beleagured automaker, has filed as a bank holding company. This would allow GMAC access to the Federal Treasury's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

This news comes as no surprise to Zacks senior financial analyst Neena Mishra, who just this past Tuesday posted a blog on Zacks.com entitled "Biz Redrawn for Treasury Access." In it, she had this quote: "We should not be surprised if the big three automakers convert themselves into bank holding companies to get a piece of the pie." Prophetic perhaps, but also common sense.

With the economy so cash-strapped, it's pretty much a force of nature that institutions would try to hitch their cart to the quarter-trillion-dollar gravy train. Certainly we will keep abreast of further developments in this regard, but the real

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