financial crisis – News Stories About financial crisis - Page 90

Bear Stearns Jumps on Hope for Higher JPMorgan Bid

Mar 18, 2008 5:03 PM CDT

Bear Stearns Jumps on Hope for Higher JPMorgan Bid

Likely stockholder holdout drives spike

(Newser) - Bear Stearns shares jumped 23% today on hopes that stockholders will reject JPMorgan's bailout offer in favor of a higher offer, Bloomberg reports. The surge moved the price to nearly three times the current value of the fire-sale bid, which one major stockholder termed "derisory." "There's every...

Fed 'Will Get on Top of This,' Says Bernanke Mentor

Mar 18, 2008 10:35 AM CDT

Fed 'Will Get on Top of This,' Says Bernanke Mentor

Scope 'far exceeds' that of previous crises

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke has the savvy to inject enough liquidity into the US economy to push it through the current credit crisis, says a leading economist who advised the Fed chief's MIT doctoral thesis. “The Fed will get on top of this,” said Stanley Fischer, ahead of this afternoon's...

Goldman Drops 53%,
Beats Analysts' Estimates

Earnings Report

Mar 18, 2008 7:54 AM CDT

Goldman Drops 53%, Beats Analysts' Estimates

Giant brokerage writes off $2.1 billion, sees revenues fall 35%

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs today beat analysts' dire predictions even though it reported a 53% drop in first-quarter profits—the worst falloff since 1999—after a $2.1 billion writeoff, reports Bloomberg. Analysts had expected the Wall Street brokerage to see profits drop more than 60%. Goldman said net income was $1....

Will Lehman Be the Crunch's Next Victim?

Mar 18, 2008 4:52 AM CDT

Will Lehman Be the Crunch's Next Victim?

Shaky confidence means its biggest fear may be fear itself

(Newser) - After a collapse of confidence sank Bear Stearns last week, some traders are betting that Lehman Brothers will be the next victim of the credit crunch. Its stock went on a rollercoaster ride yesterday—plunging 40% at one point and closing down 19%, the biggest fall since the firm went...

Investors Ask: Who's Next?

Mar 17, 2008 6:54 AM CDT

Investors Ask: Who's Next?

Wall Street survived the near-collapse of Bear Stearns, but there's more trouble ahead

(Newser) - Wall Street, reeling over JP Morgan’s bargain-basement purchase of Bear Stearns, is anxiously watching to see “who’s next” to succumb to the continuing credit squeeze, reports the Financial Times. As investment banks prepare to release first quarter results this week—led by Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers...

Bernanke
Tosses Out
His Rule Book

Mar 16, 2008 9:19 AM CDT

Bernanke Tosses Out His Rule Book

As Wall Streets meltdown accelerates, the Fed chief adapts on the fly

(Newser) - With a recession and worsening meltdown on Wall Street looming, Fed chief Ben Bernanke has dumped textbook central bank economic policy, reports the New York Times. Last week's bailout of Bear Stearns, for example, seemed to fly in the face of his previous reluctance to rescue big institutions. And it...

Bear Bailout Invites the Bears

MARKETS

Mar 14, 2008 3:40 PM CDT

Bear Bailout Invites the Bears

Financial sell-off follows Fed's move, sends markets plummeting

(Newser) - News of the Bear Stearns bailout triggered a sell-off today as investors were reminded that the true depth and breadth of current credit problems remains uncertain, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bear Stearns stock closed at 30, down a breathtaking 47.4% on the day. The Dow fell 194.65...

Economy in Trouble: Bush

Mar 14, 2008 3:00 PM CDT

Economy in Trouble: Bush

President warns of overreaction to housing, credit crises

(Newser) - The economy is experiencing difficulties, but President Bush said today he is certain a recovery will come soon, the AP reports. “In a free-market economy there will be good times and bad times” he said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York. “We’re going...

Fed Pours $200B Into Global Credit Relief Push

Mar 11, 2008 10:15 AM CDT

Fed Pours $200B Into Global Credit Relief Push

Central banks around the world try to ease liquidity problem

(Newser) - The Fed will inject huge quantities of cash into financial markets as part of a coordinated global attack on the credit crisis, Ben Bernanke announced today. The central bank will loan out another $200 billion, this time on a 28-day basis rather than overnight, the AP reports. The effort will...

Wall Street Faults Rules
on Writedowns

Mar 1, 2008 12:09 PM CST

Wall Street Faults Rules on Writedowns

Critics say accounting rules exaggerate losses, hinder market

(Newser) - After months of staggering writedowns battering Wall Street, some investors and executives are charging that accounting rules are exaggerating losses and triggering slumps like yesterday’s 315-point plunge in the Dow, reports the Wall Street Journal. Rules requiring companies to value holdings at current market rates, no matter how volatile,...

AIG Posts
$5.2B Loss
on Writedown

Feb 28, 2008 5:49 PM CST

AIG Posts $5.2B Loss on Writedown

Giant insurer takes $11B charge on mortgage woes

(Newser) - Today's after-hours bad news from the credit-crunch front comes from insurer AIG, which reported a fourth-quarter loss of $5.29 billion after taking an $11 billion writedown on mortgage-related insurance contracts, the Wall Street Journal reports. The loss amounts to $2.08 per share; American International Group turned a profit...

Freddie Mac Reports Record $2.45B Loss

Feb 28, 2008 10:27 AM CST

Freddie Mac Reports Record $2.45B Loss

Rising defaults break mark mortgage investor set ... last quarter

(Newser) - Freddie Mac, the nation’s second-largest mortgage finance company, lost $2.45 billion in 2007's fourth quarter, topping the record $2.02 billion it lost the previous quarter, Bloomberg reports. Freddie’s CEO predicted still-greater losses ahead as loan defaults take their toll, but said the company had raised enough...

Fannie Mae Loses Billions in Q4

Feb 27, 2008 10:48 AM CST

Fannie Mae Loses Billions in Q4

Government-backed lender off $3.56B, but feds lifts restraints on portfolio

(Newser) - Fannie Mae reported huge fourth-quarter losses today, painting an ugly picture both of the economy and the mortgage giant's own future. The company lost $3.56 billion—triple what analysts expected, Bloomberg reports. Derivatives were the big culprit, accounting for $3.33 billion in losses, but the company also reported...

Feds Brace
for a Wave of
Bank Failures

Feb 26, 2008 7:13 AM CST

Feds Brace for a Wave of Bank Failures

FDIC hires extra staff to help with boost in 'problem' banks

(Newser) - Federal regulators are gearing up for as many as 100 bank failures in the next year—the most since the savings and loan crisis that saw more than 1,000 S&Ls go belly up in the ’80s and ’90s—as the subprime contagion continues to decimate the...

How Bad Is Northern Rock?

OPINION

Feb 19, 2008 1:08 PM CST

How Bad Is Northern Rock?

Pundits examine the fallout of unavoidable nationalization

(Newser) - The subprime crisis has forced the British government to do what it dreaded: nationalize a bank. What's the fallout from the Northern Rock takeover?

Gordon Brown "put quite a good face" on an unpalatable decision, says Philip Stephens of the Financial Times. Nationalization hasn't hurt him much, but the

...

Fed Quietly Loans Billions
to US Banks

Feb 19, 2008 11:10 AM CST

Fed Quietly Loans Billions to US Banks

New program opens floodgates for short-term funds

(Newser) - US banks, struggling with liquidity and hesitant to lend to each other in the wake of the subprime crisis, have hit up the Fed for nearly $50 billion, the Financial Times reports. The loans, issued under a 2-month-old program that, one analyst says, lets them "borrow money against all...

Buffett's Offer Cheers Investors

MARKETS

Feb 12, 2008 3:40 PM CST

Buffett's Offer Cheers Investors

Stocks end mixed as billionaire offers to reinsure bonds

(Newser) - Stocks ended mixed today, with the Dow up more than 100 points on Warren Buffet's offer to reinsure municipal bonds. "The important thing is that people are thinking we're now close to some kind of broader bailout of the bond insurers," an economist told the Wall Street Journal....

Econ Crash Could Deflate Climate Crusade

Jan 23, 2008 9:50 PM CST

Econ Crash Could Deflate Climate Crusade

Governments could be 'distracted' by market woes, UN officials warn

(Newser) - As the global economy panics, leaders are in danger of abandoning lofty climate-change goals, top UN climate gurus warned today. At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the Guardian reports, the pair urged politicians not to be “distracted” by the crisis. “This is the time to be bold...

Northern Rock Bailout Plan a Money Shuffle

Jan 21, 2008 2:21 PM CST

Northern Rock Bailout Plan a Money Shuffle

Deal pays back government loans, but public still on the hook

(Newser) - The British government today unveiled its last-gasp plan to hand off the Northern Rock hot potato and prevent nationalization, the London Times reports. Under the plan, the bank would immediately pay back the £25 billion it owes the government by selling the debt to private investors as bonds. But...

Bernanke Backs Quick Bailout

Jan 17, 2008 10:50 AM CST

Bernanke Backs Quick Bailout

Fast, temporary stimulus would buoy flagging economy, Fed chief tells Congress

(Newser) - The country needs a federal stimulus package ASAP, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the House Budget Committee today, advocating immediate legislation designed “so its effects on aggregate spending are felt as much as possible within the next 12 months.” But he said the package should be “...