Daily Highlights: 8.25.09

• Asian stocks fell, Treasuries advanced on lower profit at Chinese cos, evidence of increasing loan losses in the U.S.
• Cash for clunkers filing time extended until noon ET Tuesday.
• China’s stocks fell for the first time in four days, led by commodities suppliers and banks.
• FDIC to ease entry for private-equity firms buying failed banks.
• Former Chair Volcker says money-market funds weaken U.S. Financial system.
• Government spending lifted Germany out of recession.
• Japan stocks lose steam on climbing yen, pre-election caution; Nikkei down .8%.
• India may ban corn exports for a second season to boost local supplies on drought.
• Obama set to announce nomination of Bernanke to a second term as Fed chairman.
• Oil falls below $74 in Asia as stock markets retreat, seasonal demand lull.
• UK House prices will drop further 13%, bond investors say in RBS survey.
• AAR Corp cuts Q1 EPS view to $0.23-0.27 on weak demand from airlines.
• Apple's Steve Jobs is focusing on a new touch-screen tablet-like device.
• BofA denies misleading its investors on bonuses.
• Cemex gets breathing space by pushing maturities on its $15B bank debt to 2014.
• Charlotte Russe to be acquired by PE firm Advent International Corp. for $380M.
• China Construction Bank: China risks asset bubbles as cash fuel speculation.
• Citadel files Lehman claim to recover $470.5M owed from derivative trade contracts.
• GM balks at selling Opel unit; Board to consider putting together $4.3B financing plan.
• GM said to be close to agreeing on Hummer sale to Chinese machinery maker.
• Illumina announces a $75 mln share repurchase program.
• Lowe's Cos. is expanding into Australia through a new venture with Woolworths Ltd.
• Nokia to sell 10-inch aluminum 'booklet 3G' laptop, taking on Apple, Dell.
• Pride International spins off Seahawk Drilling Inc. into a separate publicly traded co.
• Santander to buyback $23.65B of mortgage- and asset-backed securities it had issued.
• Staples 2Q profit slips 39% on charge but adjusted results meet expectations.
• Suncorp-Metway Ltd. annual profit slumps 40% after loan losses, impairments.
• SunTrust CEO says banks face further losses as commercial property falters.
• Winn-Dixie Stores swings to Q4 profit ($9.4M) on cost-cuts; revs flat at $1.72B.

Economic Calendar: Data on Durable Orders, Consumer Confidence to be released today.

Recent Egan-Jones Rating Actions:
TITAN INTERNATIONAL INC (TWI)
NEWS CORP (NWS)
TOLL BROTHERS INC (TOL)
SERVICE CORP INTERNATIONAL/US (SCI)
CELESTICA INC (CLS)
BON-TON STORES INC/THE (BONT)
NORDSTROM INC (JWN)
MORGAN STANLEY (MS)
BANK OF AMERICA CORP (BAC)
CITIGROUP INC (C)
FLEXTRONICS INTERNATIONAL LTD (FLEX)
FOOT LOCKER INC (FL)
UNIVERSAL HEALTH SERVICES INC (UHS)

Data provided by Egan-Jones Ratings And Analytics

Comments

[jdoo]

Sorry for cross-commenting, but you guys should see this:

WSJ interviews Geithner using a list of questions generated by the community at digg.com

http://online.wsj.com/community/dialogg

[Cheeky Bastard]

just watching it; Timmay does look kinda like a retard doesn't he ?

[MountainHawk]

F*cker is bought and paid for by the fed...

[Humble Gentleman]

He clearly dodged the tax fraud question by scapegoating congress' consideration of his appointment -- what a slimeball. Also, his extolling of Goldmanites is clearly nepotistic, which means his reference to them as "statesmen" is inherently a whole lot of nonsense. It's time to purge the system of the corrupt and restore the constitution!

[Anonymous]

Just examine Indonesia's Geithner experience....

Just because someone has the podium....does not mean that they are qualified to be there....

[Anonymous]

some good commentary from Rosenberg on the sham of "estimates"

"What seems to be lost on most, if not all pundits, is that the YoY pace in earnings for 2Q stands at -27.8%, ...That revision process is showing up for 3Q where consensus EPS estimates are now -20.6% on a YoY basis. On April 1st, the 3Q estimate was -17.2% and on January 1st, the consensus view was +2.6%. So, the notion that earnings are improving is ... well, not exactly supported by the facts...."

[e1even1]

if you look up the source articles on Volker's comment, he says outright that bank's cant compete with money market funds, so that creates systemic risk.

that's a LIE on 2 levels. 1) banks have fewer liquidity and maturity restrictions than money market funds, therefore much more flexibility and 2) banks DO compete using interest bearing passbook accounts (not exactly the same, but accessible) and CDs.

so why the lies? either he's in heat to get that huge cash horde infused into the banks and/or he's in mortal fear for the commercial paper market and/or they desperately need some more frational reserve money supply. or what am i missing?

this doesnt inspire my confidence.