- JPMorgan Profit Rises 36 Percent, Beating Estimates
- Paulson Expected to Face Hard Questioning on Merrill Deal
- Banks Ramp Up Pay Packages to Top Talent
- Schwarzenegger, California Lawmakers Fail to Reach Budget Deal
- U.S. Regulators to BofA: Obey or Else
- U.S. Foreclosures Rise 33 Percent From June 2008
- Fed Prepares for Rising Unemployment Amid Higher Growth
- Credit Losses Keep BofA, Citi in Back of Class
- Obama bill seeks to shine spotlight on hedge funds
- Trump Suit Claiming Defamation Is Dismissed
- Apple disables iTunes sync feature on Palm Pre
- Sears Tower now named Willis Tower
JPMorgan Profit Rises 36 Percent, Beating Estimates – Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second- largest U.S. bank, said profit rose for the first time since 2007, surpassing analysts’ most optimistic estimates as investment-banking fees reached a record.
Second-quarter earnings increased to $2.7 billion, or 28 cents a share, from $2 billion, or 53 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based bank said today in a statement. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 5 cents a share, including costs to repay government bailout funds and an assessment by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp…..
Paulson Expected to Face Hard Questioning on Merrill Deal – NY Times
….According to testimony prepared for the committee hearing, Mr. Paulson will say that he warned the chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, last December that abandoning the Merrill deal could result in his immediate dismissal.
Mr. Paulson will address questions from committee members, including many who contend he went too far by threatening to oust Mr. Lewis if he did not complete the Merrill deal, even if Mr. Lewis thought newly discovered losses at Merrill would hurt Bank of America’s shareholders…..
Banks Ramp Up Pay Packages to Top Talent – Wall Street Journal
Some big banks that have received government bailouts in the U.S. and Britain are offering handsome pay packages to lure stars and reverse last year’s steep losses.
Bank of America Corp. recently hired a top bond salesman with a guaranteed two-year deal valued at about $6 million for the first year, people familiar with the matter say. Citigroup Inc. offered nearly $2 million in an attempt to recruit a top brokerage executive. And Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Britain’s largest recipient of government bailout funds, is offering pay packages to lure or retain some people that are at or above the industry’s peak pay in 2007, people familiar with the deals say….
Schwarzenegger, California Lawmakers Fail to Reach Budget Deal - Bloomberg
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers failed to agree on how to narrow a $26 billion deficit last night, one day after the state’s credit rating was cut to near non-investment grade over the gap.
Top Democrats emerged from a five-hour meeting with Schwarzenegger and Republicans and said the negotiations were at an impasse over school funding. Schwarzenegger had said earlier yesterday he thought a compromise was possible by day’s end. Lawmakers said they would return to the negotiating table today….
U.S. Regulators to BofA: Obey or Else – Wall Street Journal
Bank of America Corp. is operating under a secret regulatory sanction that requires it to overhaul its board and address perceived problems with risk and liquidity management, according to people familiar with the situation.
Rarely disclosed publicly, the so-called memorandum of understanding gives banks a chance to work out their problems without the glare of outside attention. Financial institutions that fail to address deficiencies can be slapped with harsher penalties that include a publicly announced cease-and-desist order…..
year under a similar order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to people familiar with the matter….
U.S. Foreclosures Rise 33 Percent From June 2008 – Washington Post
Foreclosure filings increased again in June as the weak labor market pushed more homeowners into delinquency and government efforts to prevent foreclosure efforts struggled to gain traction, according to data from RealtyTrac released today.
The firm counted 336,173 filings nationally, which can range from default notices to bank repossessions. That is up 4.57 percent from the previous month and up 33 percent compared with the same period last year….
Credit Losses Keep BofA, Citi in Back of Class - Wall Street Journal
By the time Bank of America and Citigroup report second-quarter results on Friday morning, investors already will have heard from their peers at the head of the class, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase.
Goldman earlier this week reported blowout earnings, as usual, broadly boosting investor confidence. J.P. Morgan will likely do the same Thursday morning. Both have already repaid the emergency Troubled Asset Relief Program loans they received at the height of the financial crisis…..
Fed Prepares for Rising Unemployment Amid Higher Growth – Wall Street Journal
Federal Reserve officials are preparing for an unusual recovery, in which the economy grows more robustly than they had expected but unemployment gets worse, according to minutes released Wednesday of the Fed’s policy meeting in June.
“Most participants anticipated that the employment situation was likely to be downbeat for some time,” the minutes said. The unemployment rate is currently 9.5%, a 26-year high…..
Obama bill seeks to shine spotlight on hedge funds – Reuters
The Obama administration on Wednesday sent Congress legislation that would pry open hedge funds to wider scrutiny, requiring those with more than $30 million under management to register with the government and greatly boost disclosure.
The bill language, released by the Treasury, calls for registered funds to submit regular reports detailing their assets, their use of leverage, off-balance sheet and counterparty risk exposures as well as trading and investment positions and practices….
Hedge funds found by regulators to be “so large, leveraged or interconnected that they pose a threat to financial stability” will be regulated as “Tier 1″ financial holding companies and will be subject to more stringent requirements for capital, liquidity and risk management, Barr said…..
Trump Suit Claiming Defamation Is Dismissed – NY Times
A judge in New Jersey dismissed on Wednesday a $5 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Donald J. Trump against an author whose book placed Mr. Trump’s personal wealth far below his public estimates.
Superior Court Judge Michele M. Fox in Camden, N.J., found there was insufficient evidence to allow the case to go to trial…..
Apple disables iTunes sync feature on Palm Pre – AP via Houston Chronicle
Apple Inc. has shut down one of the most compelling features on Palm’s rival Pre smart phone, crippling the Pre’s ability to act like an iPod.
Users of the recently released Pre had been able to put music on it by using Apple’s free iTunes software — a unique twist for a device not made by Apple. But Apple updated iTunes today to block this feature….
Sears Tower now named Willis Tower – CNN
Sears Tower is history. As of Thursday, the iconic Chicago, Illinois, skyscraper is now named Willis Tower.
At least that’s what the owners of the 110-story skyscraper now call it after its new main tenant, the London, England-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings. However, there are plenty of people who refuse to call it that.
More than 90,000 people have joined the group “People Against the Sears Tower Name Change,” on the social networking Web site Facebook…..
Tags: Apple, Bank of America, Banks, Barack Obama, California, Donald Trump, Earnings, Fed, Foreclosures, Hedge funds, Henry Paulson, JP Morgan, Lawsuit, Merrill Lynch, Politics
