On Monday night Wells Fargo was in first position to acquire Wachovia. Then on Tuesday morning, it turned out that Citigroup would pay $2.16 billion for the bulk of Wachovia, including five depository institutions, and assume its senior and subordinated debt. Wachovia would retain ownership of its retail brokerage unit, AG Edwards, and its asset-management
Wachovia
Oil psychology The good news is that with the drop in oil prices down into the low $90’s per barrel, I will save $150 per year in gasoline. The bad news is that in the last two weeks, my stock portfolio and 401(k) is down by $8,920. The question is, “Will the average consumer be
Who says investment banking is deal. The new deal brokers on The Street are the Fed, Treasury and, increasingly, the FDIC. Under Sheila Bair, the FDIC’s role in the credit crunch is getting larger and larger. When Indymac went down, it caused great concern that the FDIC’s industry-funded deposit insurance fund would quickly be depleted
Fixed and ARM rates are down about .375% in the three weeks since my last report. Since then Fannie/Freddie were taken over by Treasury; AIG was bailed out by the Fed; WAMU was taken over by JP Morgan Chase; Wachovia was taken over by Citigroup; Lehman Brothers went bankrupt; Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank
Forget all the news about the bailout, and about Citi/Wachovia! More importantly, Heather Locklear was arrested! Rumors of thousands of men lined up to post bail are probably exaggerated. Obviously this mortgage crisis is proving too much for her. Decent listing of current links Are you preparing for a presentation, or being asked by clients
UPDATE 1: Citi beat Wells on Wachovia, will acquire them for $2.16b. UPDATE 2: Morgan/Mitsubishi deal is done for $9b. The week opens with Wachovia a bit closer to a deal. There were a few suitors for Wachovia which is troubled by a $110b option ARM loan portfolio, including Citigroup, but Wells Fargo has emerged
Leave it to the top dealmaking firms in the world to strike landmark deals that fundamentally change the financial world. The Fed approved applications from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to be come traditional banks, so they will sidestep any need to merge with existing banks and instead become competitors of the last big banks
T-Bill Prices Rally So Much On Uncertainty, Yields Touch Zero Want to loan the US Government money for 3 months? If you bought a 3 month T-bill yesterday, the annual yield you’d earn was .16%. (Notice the decimal place.) The 1 month bill is/was down to 0%. As one bond analyst said, “There’s a lot
GMAC will cut 5,000 jobs (60% of its employees) at Residential Capital, and shut its 200 GMAC Mortgage retail offices. Announcements went out saying that, in spite of eliminating their retail and wholesale channels: GMAC is committed to maintaining and growing the Correspondent Channel, supported by the Warehouse Division. The Conduit is actively buying loans
MARKET ROUNDUP On Friday mortgages “tightened” to Treasury yields, but prior to that Treasury yields were dropping and mortgage rates weren’t doing much. Why? The credit-market slump is again increasing mortgage rates, raising costs for home buyers and refinancers and undercutting efforts by Congress and the Fed. The difference between yields on 10-year Treasuries and
I don’t have exact numbers, or any numbers for that matter, but I imagine that many agents and brokers are turning to Amway as a financial bridge during these difficult times. Yes, Amway – based in Michigan. Also known as Quixtar, it is a multi-level marketing company doing business in 90 countries and founded in
“Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.” And is there anything meaner than me when I feel I was on the bad side of a trade? Last week I bought some Krispy Kreme stock for my daughter. This week it was lower! So I called Charles Schwab to complain, and ask
Up until recently I lay awake at night, wondering if I got cheated when I had to make my standard mortgage payment in February, since it only has 28 days. A California appellate court has rejected a class action lawsuit by Julie and Kenneth Puentes claiming Wells Fargo unfairly treated customers in its calculation of
It hasn’t even been a month since Wachovia hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate its loan portfolio, and only 11 days since the company hit a 17-year low after its new CEO Robert Steel came on board, but Wachovia has announced that they are closing their wholesale lending channel that serves mortgage brokers. The latest in
BusinessWeek put it best today, pointing out that Wachovia hit a 17-year low just as new CEO Robert Steel starts his $1.1m per year base salary job. Steel has been the Treasury Department’s link with Wall Street since 2006, and is a former Goldman Sachs exec as well. His hire comes about two weeks after
My Mother liked to say, “No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.” I can’t tie that in to RESPA news, but thought it was pretty witty. Speaking of matters related to doing dishes, any single guys looking for houses in Florida might be interested in this. Now that June is over with,
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