NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Benchmark Journal.

Let me be first to congratulate myself, writes David Weidner: Almost all of my predictions for 2008 panned out.

For bulls, Wednesdays action remains a bit of Hump Day on more bearish-sounding fodder.

I conveyed some of my thoughts regarding Steve Jobs’ health condition in this column yesterday but I feel like continuing my rant just a bit today. Here are some more reflections on the topic:1. The guy has a condition - he told us so.2. I think investors should generally be more focused on the company’s earnings prospects going forward than on Jobs’ health. 3. Hold the emails people. I realize that Jobs has played a big role in Apple’s (AAPL)success and that his absence would certainly be felt. But I think the company has evolved over the years and is ...

Treasuries are expensive; high-grade corporates are cheap.

U.S. financial shares stage a broad retreat in early action, pulling back as an influential Oppenheimer & Co. analyst predicts banks will need to raise lots of additional capital this year -- and will likely face further credit downgrades.

The banking landscape in the U.S. has changed drastically over the past few months. We anticipate further consolidation in the banking space, as the weaker players fail and the stronger players seek to build up their positions.

Filed under: Consumer experience, Rants and raves, Market matters, Scandals, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC)

If we keep hearing about companies that are "too big to fail" what in the world are we doing allowing Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) to swallow up everything in their financial path so that they can become even bigger, potentially creating the next catastrophe!

During my tenure at BloggingStocks I have made some bonehead calls and some that were more astute. Among my better calls was the story I wrote 20 months ago, Break up Citigroup as soon as possible, and the follow on story a year later when nothing had changed: Citigroup should hire forensic auditors. My colleagues Peter Cohan and Douglas McIntyre made similar points.

Given these stories and the dialog I have had with many of our intelligent and equally frustrated readers, I have had thoughts of starting a non-profit organization to shadow the Securities and Exchange Commission that has been dormant for the last ten years. Instead of hiring Wall Street types to run the SEC we might do better hiring inquisitive university students, and not from the business or law schools, but the accounting, journalism and criminology programs.

Continue reading Why do BAC and JPM want to be Citigroup?

Why do BAC and JPM want to be Citigroup? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday after a worse than expected employment report rattled investors ahead of Friday's key jobs data. Deteriorating corporate outlook also dampened the sentiment.[More...]

Filed under: After the bell, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Intel (INTC), Market matters, Alcoa Inc (AA), Bank of America (BAC), Economic data, Financial Crisis

Today's equity markets were looking weak from the start, and the horrible ADP jobs data took care of the rest. T. Boone Pickens calling for the possibility of $100 oil again failed to prevent oil's retreat by more than $5 a barrel today after a brief cease-fire took place in Gaza.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was down sharply on bad news of its own, with shares declining 10% at $10.88 late in the day. Alcoa announced that it was cutting 13% of its workforce and streamlining its manufacturing after selling off units.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was down almost 2% at $14.01 late in the day after being slammed by Oppenheimer's Meredith Whitney as one of the bank stocks which would likely have to raise capital this year. This is despite the firm's confirmed sale of a stake in China Construction Bank Corp.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Dow closes down 245 points; AA, BAC, INTC, SAY

Closing Bell: Dow closes down 245 points; AA, BAC, INTC, SAY originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), Financial Crisis

Bank Of America (NYSE: BAC) now stands as a symbol of the U.S. banking system, so it better not fail. Its CEO Ken Lewis decided not to take a bonus after taking $15 billion worth of taxpayer money from the TARP -- not to mention the 66% decline in its stock in 2008. Last month it closed its purchase of another icon, Merrill Lynch & Co., and today it sold a $2.83 billion stake in a Chinese bank. Does it have enough capital now? It's hard to know.

Today's capital raising move looks good on the surface. Bank of America sold 5.62 billion Construction Bank shares at 3.92 Hong Kong dollars -- that amounted to $2.83 billion in proceeds and a profit of about $1.13 billion on the stake sale, based on Construction Bank's initial offering price. (Bank of America now holds 16.6% of the Chinese bank.) But Bank of America sold that stake at a 12% discount to the stock's Tuesday close -- and that makes me nervous.

Why? Because it ought to be able to sell at the market price by breaking that sale into small lots and executing it over a relatively long period of time. Its decision to sell at such a huge discount hints at desperation. It is difficult to know what kind of financial shape Bank of America is in because it has not released financial statements following its merger with Merrill Lynch. At the end of September it had $11 of assets per $1 of equity, but when it bought Merrill it probably added a significant amount of debt and the potential for big asset write-downs.

I'd guess that Bank of America could use much more capital -- but just how much more it needs and where it will get that money is hard to know.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Does Bank of America have enough capital? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Schaeffer's analyst Colleen S. King takes a look at the major news of the day on Wall Street.

Schaeffer's analyst Colleen S. King takes a look at the major news of the day on Wall Street.

Schaeffer's Equities Analyst Colleen S. King a look at news on the Street before the market open.

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Schaeffer's analyst Colleen S. King takes a look at news on the Street before the market open.