For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 14, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the U.S. Banks sector, including Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE), Commerce Bancshares Inc. (CBSH), Wilmington Trust Corporation (WL) and Zions Bancorp (ZION).

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

While the state of the economy is showing signs of recovery, a lot remains to be done. The Treasury continues to have huge direct investments in institutions like Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE).

We expect loan losses on commercial real estate portfolio to remain high for banks that hold large amounts of high-risk loans. Also, 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

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After enduring extraordinary shocks in 2008, the U.S. banks entered an exceptional state of turmoil in 2009. Starting as a credit issue in the subprime segment of the mortgage market, the sticky situation spread to almost the entire financial services industry, and all corners of the globe. In other words, the financial crisis ultimately morphed into a massive economic crisis, which has had major ramifications across the whole world. Although the banking industry is dealing with liquidity and confidence challenges, it now has financial support from the U.S. government. The government has taken several steps, including programs offering capital injections and debt guarantees, to stabilize the financial system. We believe that the worst of the credit crisis is now probably behind us. After almost a year of initiating the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a lot has improved with respect to the economic crisis, but ...

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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We think that the worst of the credit crisis is now probably behind us, but the banking system is not yet out of the woods -- there are still many significant challenges ahead. The banks are now able to tap the debt markets without FDICÕs support and also access the equity markets as the investor confidence returns in the stronger banks. Many banks have already repaid the TARP funds to the Treasury. Ê

While the bigger banks benefited greatly from the various programs launched by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and the FDIC and are now in a much better shape, many smaller banks are still in a very weak financial state and the FDICÕs list of problem banks continues to grow. Further, the Government efforts have not succeeded in restoring the lending activity at the banks.ÊLower lending activity will continue to hurt the margins though the low interest rate environment should

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We think that the worst of the credit crisis is now probably behind us, but the banking system is not yet out of the woods -- there are still many significant challenges ahead. The banks are now able to tap the debt markets without FDICÕs support and also access the equity markets as the investor confidence returns in the stronger banks. Many banks have already repaid the TARP funds to the Treasury. Ê

While the bigger banks benefited greatly from the various programs launched by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and the FDIC and are now in a much better shape, many smaller banks are still in a very weak financial state and the FDICÕs list of problem banks continues to grow. Further, the Government efforts have not succeeded in restoring the lending activity at the banks.ÊLower lending activity will continue to hurt the margins though the low interest rate environment should

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We think that the worst of the credit crisis is now probably behind us, but the banking system is not yet out of the woods -- there are still many significant challenges ahead. The banks are now able to tap the debt markets without the FDIC’s support, and also access the equity markets as the investor confidence returns in the stronger banks. Many banks have already repaid the TARP funds to the Treasury.   While the bigger banks benefited greatly from the various programs launched by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and the FDIC and are now in much better shape, many smaller banks are still in a very weak financial state and the FDIC’s list of problem banks continues to grow. Further, government efforts have not succeeded in restoring the lending activity at the banks. Lower lending activity will continue to hurt margins, though the low interest rate environment ...

On June 17, 2009, S&P's Ratings Services (S&P) lowered ratings and revised its outlook on Wilmington Trust Corporation (WL) along with 22 rated U.S. banks. S&P lowered its outlook to "negative" from "negative watch" on Wilmington and HAD downgraded its long-term counterparty credit rating to "BBB" from "BBB+" earlier. S&P believes that operating conditions for the industry will become less favorable, compared to the past, characterized by greater volatility in financial markets during credit cycles and tighter regulatory supervision.

However, Wilmington's 1Q09 results exceeded expectations mainly due to lower-than-expected provision expense, which more than offset the decline in net interest income and non-interest income. Credit metrics were mixed during the quarter, with non-performing assets increasing to 2.67% of related assets (up 48 bps sequentially) and year-to-date net charge-offs at 0.22% of average loans (down 35 bps sequentially). During the reported quarter, net charge-offs improved somewhat sequentially

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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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The worst of the credit crisis is now probably behind us, but the banking system is not yet out of the woods, as there are still many significant challenges ahead.

Ten of the nation's largest banks have received the Treasury approval for TARP repayment, as they are now able to tap the debt markets without FDIC's support and also access the equity markets as the investor confidence returns in the stronger banks.

While the bigger banks have benefited a lot from the various programs launched by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and the FDIC, and are now in a much better shape, many smaller banks are still in a very weak financial state, and the FDIC's list of problem banks continues to grow. Further, government efforts have not succeeded in restoring the lending activity at the banks. Lower lending activity will continue to hurt the margins, though the low interest rate environment

...

The worst of the credit crisis is now probably behind us, but the banking system is not yet out of the woods, as there are still many significant challenges ahead.

Ten of the nation's largest banks have received the Treasury approval for TARP repayment, as they are now able to tap the debt markets without FDIC's support and also access the equity markets as the investor confidence returns in the stronger banks.

While the bigger banks have benefited a lot from the various programs launched by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and the FDIC, and are now in a much better shape, many smaller banks are still in a very weak financial state, and the FDIC's list of problem banks continues to grow. Further, government efforts have not succeeded in restoring the lending activity at the banks. Lower lending activity will continue to hurt the margins, though the low interest rate environment

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