Water pumping rate shows 72% decrease over original estimate

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“It is not the strongest of the species that survives or the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” —Charles Darwin2008 in Review: Has the Easy Market Call Come and Gone?As regular readers know I've had a cautious even bearish view towards equities and credit over the past couple of years. The handwriting was on the wall and both seemed woefully overvalued. That being said my long-standing target for the S&P 500 of 750-800 was reached this autumn a level that has held even in the face of awful economic news. ...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A U.S. official has been removed from his job after investigators found he allegedly allowed IndyMac Bancorp to portray a misleading picture of its finances.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision is being blamed for what critics say was lax oversight of Countrywide Financial Corp.

SEATTLE, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Conspiracy theories have abounded since Washington Mutual became the largest U.S. bank failure, observers say.

In this article, we cite Merrill Lynch (MER), Bank of America (BAC), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), PNC Financial Services (PNC), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS). The banking landscape in the U.S. has changed drastically[More...]

In mid-August I predicted that “major” bankruptcies for 2008 would reach 225 (see Bankruptcies Revisited). Through October there had been 172 such bankruptcies, as reported by Bankrupctydata.com. That implied a pace of around 210 bankruptcies, well short of my prediction. At the time however, I suggested that the filing pace was likely to quicken in November and December as the economy deteriorated at a more rapid clip. Sure enough, the final numbers bear out my prediction. According to Bankruptcydata.com, “major” filings reached 231 in 2008. 231 bankruptcies falls far short of the 289 “major” bankruptcies in 2000 and 383 in 2001[More...]

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Monday that it will provide $5 billion to GMAC Financial Services LLC, the ailing financing arm of General Motors Corp., from the $700 billion bank rescue program.(The Huffington Post)

GMAC will also potentially receive up…

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

This week's show features guest Ketul Kirtikumar of US Equity Research. In addition to talking about his stock selection method, Mr. Kirtikumar offers his opinions on Phillip Morris International (NYSE:PM) and National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE:NOV) as well. The program also includes commentary on the proposed federal bailout of troubled financial firms in wake of the failures of Lehman Brothers (OTC:LEHMQ) and Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM), while the "I Need to Know" segment explains Bollinger Bands.

Washington Mutual was polled by Tickermine just a week before the giant was bought by another bank. Our researchers asked respondents at 23 locations around the country what is the average loan size on a single family home, what is the average lending rate, is this up or down from two months earlier and how does the respondent view the default rate? We learned that the average loan size was $257,185 and the average lending rate was 6.17%. 12 people or 52% of those polled say the rate is down from two months earlier and 11 people or 48% say it is up. And while 10 people or 43% say the default rate is higher, 9 people or 39% say it is flat and 4 people, 17%, say it is down.

Schaeffer's analyst Elizabeth Harrow takes a look at the major news of the day on Wall Street.

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