Take another toke and hit that buy button
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DJ Financial Services Top Stories Of The Day
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FINANCIAL SERVICES TOP STORIES
CITI, WACHOVIA SEEN CUTTING DIVIDENDS
Citigroup and Wachovia will likely have to announce dividend cuts next month, as shrinking earnings will make it hard to support current payouts, Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney says in a note to clients.
LEHMAN CLIMBS AFTER CITI RATES IT A BUY
Shares climb 3% after Citigroup analysts advise investors to buy shares of Lehman, saying the bank doesn't face a liquidity crisis and arguing its shares have been beaten down too far.
CITI LEADERSHIP OVERHAUL CONTINUES
Bank names Nick Roe to head its global equity finance and prime brokerage business, as CEO Pandit continues to overhaul Citi's senior leadership. Outsider Terri Dial, who currently runs Lloyds TSB Group's U.K. retail-banking business, will take over Citi's beleaguered U.S. consumer business.
BLACKROCK LAUNCHES NEW $500M FUND IPO
Fund management giant launches a $500 million initial public offer for a fund of hedge funds that will trade on the London Stock Exchange, in a deal that will test investor demand for a new entrant in a thriving market. Shares gain 2% in New York.
FDIC ORDERS FREMONT'S BANK TO RECAPITALIZE
Fremont General shares drop 13% after the cash-strapped mortgage lender says California and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have ordered it to recapitalize the books of its investment and loan bank within two months or sell the unit.
ASSURED GUARANTY RE-EXAMINING COUNTRYWIDE LOANS
Assured Guaranty is re-examining lending documents for some of the $2.1 billion in guarantees it wrote for home equity lines of credit issued by Countrywide Financial to see if the loans meet Countrywide's stated terms.
TISBURY CAPITAL MAY SEE $1.4B IN WITHDRAWALS
Investors in Tisbury Capital are trying to withdraw $1.4 billion of the London hedge fund's $2 billion of assets under management after the fund abandoned a U.S. venture, reports the Financial Times.
CHAIRMAN CAYNE SELLS BIG BEAR STAKE
James Cayne, now chairman of Bear Stearns's board, and his wife sell 5.7 million shares at a price of $10.84 apiece, creating just $61.3 million in paper profit. Sale came a day after board agrees to JPMorgan's raised bid, suggesting he doesn't see a better offer coming.
HAWAIIAN TELCOM NO PARADISE FOR CARLYLE
When Carlyle Group bought the largest Hawaiian phone company from Verizon in 2005, it expected the deal to turn into big money. Instead, it's been a money drain for Carlyle and a headache for the customers of Hawaiian Telcom.
DEUTSCHE BANK'S CREAKING CAPITAL RATIOS
There was a time last year when Deutsche Bank management looked like the smartest guys in the room. But Germany's premier bank will enter the second quarter of 2008 with an unusually stretched balance sheet, writes Arindam Nag.
CREDIT CRUNCH HITS UK HOUSING, FINANCIAL SERVICES
The credit crunch is choking the key U.K. economic growth engines that are most vulnerable to a reduction in the supply of cheap loans -- and consumers are taking note, writes Paul Hannon.
LEHMAN FALLS AMID HEAVY OPTIONS TRADE
Lehman Brothers shares slide 8.9%, and options traders are placing heavy bets that they will continue to fall. The volume of trading in Lehman's options appears to be the highest since at least 1994 or perhaps ever.
CITI SUED OVER AUCTION-RATE MARKETING
Citigroup and its securities unit become the latest Wall Street bank to be sued over allegedly deceptive marketing of auction-rate securities. Suits allege that auction-rate securities represented as liquid equivalents to money-market funds.
PRIMARY DEALERS TAP NEW FED CREDIT FACILITY
Investment banks this week continue to tap extensively into a new U.S. Federal Reserve facility created to stem the credit crisis. Lending totaled $37.023 billion as of Wednesday, up from $28.8 billion the previous week.
LEHMAN TAPS BOURGEOIS FOR GLOBAL POST
Mark Bourgeois starts in May as managing director and co-head of global institutional distribution. He joins the current head of global institutional distribution, Eric Johnson, who focuses on traditional products since 2005.
DEUTSCHE BANK LAYS OFF 20 IN CMBS DIVISION
The bank, which has about 500 people in its commercial real estate team globally, lost a dozen folks from the U.S. team and the rest were in the U.K. Commercial mortgage loans and securities are at a virtual standstill.
BANKS ASK TO MOVE CLEAR CHANNEL SUIT
Banks backing Clear Channel deal ask to move litigation from a state court in Texas to a federal court, where they may find a friendlier judge. Clear Channel shares jump nearly 10% after court issues a temporary restraining order.
ACCENTURE NET UP 37%, HELPED BY DOLLAR
Consulting and outsourcing company reports net income of $406.6 million, or 64c a share. Revenue rises 17% to $6.06 billion. The company raises its fiscal 2008 EPS view amid surging revenue overseas. Shares rise 2%.
A DECADE LATER, MERIWETHER SCRAMBLES AGAIN
Ten years after overseeing a hedge-fund collapse that buckled the world's financial markets, Long-Term Capital founder John Meriwether again is scrambling to stem losses and keep investors from jumping ship as his biggest fund plunges 28%.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 28, 2008 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 10 00 AM EDT 03-28-08 |
