STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 13 March 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 13 March 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 12 March 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 12 March 2015
[center][font color=green]
Dow Jones 17,895.22 +259.83 (1.47%)
S&P 500 2,065.95 +25.71 (1.26%)
Nasdaq 4,893.29 +43.35 (0.89%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.12% +0.06 (2.91%)
30 Year 2.70% +0.06 (2.27%) [font color=black]


[center][/font]

[HR width=85%]

[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
[center]
(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
[/center]

[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

[/center]

[center]

[/center]

[HR width=95%]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
[center]
Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
[center]
The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
[center]
Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
[center]
LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
[center]
Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
[/center]

[div]
[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







[HR width=95%]


[center]

[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Demeter]

1. Happy Friday 13th

I just invited 350 of my neighbors to overthrow the condo board....I firmly believe in giving on special occasions!

[mother earth]

2. Good on you, missy. I don't know how a friday the 13th sneaked up on me, but it did. I was too

focused on Thursday.

K & R and keep on bringing it.

[Demeter]

3. Former SEC Director Rips the Red Tape Off His Mouth

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-09/he-went-from-speak-no-evil-on-markets-to-harsh-criticism

For more than a decade, John Ramsay had red tape over his mouth. Now that he’s left government bureaucracy, he says he’s been “uncorked.”

Ramsay, 55, formerly the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s director of trading and markets, joined the stock-trading venue founded by Brad Katsuyama, IEX Group Inc., in June and soon began slamming the industry he’d overseen for the SEC. He called out the “convoluted” and “illogical” pricing rules of major stock exchanges and compared the $25 trillion U.S. stock market’s structure to the Death Star of “Star Wars.”

Ramsay’s denunciations come during a period of unprecedented scrutiny of equities trading. A chorus of criticism, sparked by the claim in Michael Lewis’s book about Katsuyama and IEX, “Flash Boys,” that the market is rigged against retail investors, has questioned the tactics involved in using algorithms to buy and sell shares in fractions of a second. Ramsay’s opinions, blunt and impassioned, have extra heft because of his experience as a regulator.

“I’ve been able to find my voice on these issues in a way I couldn’t have done when I was in the government, because you’re always limited by internal politics and not wanting to get too far out in front of the agency,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been a little bit uncorked.”

READ ON FOR TITILLATION

[DemReadingDU]

16. Michael Lewis: 'Flash Boys' market still 'rigged'

3/13/15 Michael Lewis: 'Flash Boys' market still 'rigged'
A year after his "Flash Boys" book rocked Wall Street, Michael Lewis thinks the stock market is still rigged.

Last March, the author ignited a prolonged, heated dedbate about high-frequency trading, which uses sophisticated computer algorithms to execute orders in fractions of a second. Lewis profiled Brad Katsuyama and IEG, which developed a system that seeks to level the playing field for investors. In an essay for Vanity Fair, Lewis said the market's "invisible scalp" persists, even though regulators have taken action against several Wall Street institutions over the past year due to trading violations. "The rigging of the stock market cannot be dismissed as a dispute between rich hedge-fund guys and clever techies," Lewis wrote for the magazine's April edition. "It's not even the case that the little guy trading in underpants in his basement is immune to its costs."
more...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/michael-lewis-flash-boys-market-124030194.html

Article in Vanity Fair
April 2015 - Michael Lewis Reflects on His Book Flash Boys, a Year After It Shook Wall Street to Its Core
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/03/michael-lewis-flash-boys-one-year-later

[Demeter]

4. Glen Pearson: Devouring Social Capital

http://www.glenpearson.ca/2015/03/devouring-social-capital/

WHEN CANADIAN MARK CARNEY LEFT his post as the head of the Bank of Canada to take on the prestigious role as the Bank of England’s governor, it was like he was jumping from the frying pan into the fire. That was almost 18 months ago and times have been turbulent for the world economy, including Britain’s. He was deemed a typical mild-mannered Canadian who would bring a sense of stability. So when he was asked to speak at England’s prestigious Guild Hall to the country’s elites no one was expecting anything out of the ordinary.. They should have been better prepared.

He surprised everyone when he launched into his view of how capitalism itself is at risk. “Just as any revolution eats its children, unchecked market fundamentalism can devour the social capital for the long-term dynamism of capitalism itself,” he offered at the beginning of his speech, to which the room grew deathly quiet.

Carney talked about how the affluent nations had subtly morphed from being market economies to market societies and how that fundamentally changed everything. He said he worried about the “mistrust” that was clearly growing between citizens and the global financial order..

Then he went on to describe how investment needs to change if capitalism is to save itself. “Prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but investment in social capital.” In case people wondered about what he meant by “social” capital, he defined it as, “the links, shared values and beliefs in a society which encourage individuals not only to take responsibility for themselves and their families but also to trust each other and work collaboratively to support each other.” The eerie silence in the room continued...

READ ON!

[Demeter]

5. Putin Eyes Single Currency for Eurasian Union Trade Bloc

MAYBE PUTIN CAN SHOW THE EU HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE....OR MAYBE IT'S A TRAP, A FINANCIAL DEAD END...

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/517234.html



Russia will explore the creation of a single currency across the Moscow-led Eurasian Union trade bloc of ex-Soviet states, according to an order published on the Kremlin's website.

The move comes as relations between union members Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan are strained by tit-for-tat sanctions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine and a Russian recession that is spilling over into neighboring economies.

According to the order, President Vladimir Putin requested Russia's government and Central Bank work with financial regulators in the bloc's member nations to present by Sept. 1 a report "defining the vector of financial and currency integration within the Eurasian Union and examining the desirability and possible creation of a currency union in the future."

The Eurasian Union was formed on Jan. 1 this year on the basis of an earlier customs union between several former Soviet republics. Russia lobbied hard to create the bloc, which unites around 170 million people and will be joined by Kyrgyzstan later this year.

But customs posts briefly reappeared between bloc members late last year as Russia tried to enforce a ban on a range of food imports from Western countries and the European Union that was adopted in retaliation for sanctions.

Meanwhile, a 50 percent fall in the value of Russia's ruble since last summer and an expected economic contraction of up to 5 percent this year have sparked currency devaluations and curtailed growth forecasts in post-Soviet nations that are heavily dependent on Russia's economy.

[Demeter]

6. Russian Imports Fall 37% as Sanctions and Slowdown Hit Trade

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article.php?id=517144

Imports into Russia from countries outside the former Soviet Union fell 36.9 percent to $22.9 billion in the first two months of 2015 compared with the same period last year, according to customs data released Friday.

Some of the biggest drops in imports were seen among food products.

Russia's economy is expected to contract sharply this year and trade has been hit by a food import ban imposed by Moscow on the United States and European Union countries last year in retaliation against Western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Imports of dairy products contracted 5.6 times, while imports of fish, sugar and meat have dropped 3 times, 2.9 times and 2.3 times respectively, according to data published by the Federal Customs Service.

Financial transfers into the budget from the Federal Customs Service in February dropped 30 percent compared to February last year to 393.7 billion rubles ($6.5 billion), the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

Russia's top three trading partners in 2014 were China, the Netherlands and Germany with a trade turnover of $88.4 billion, $73.2 billion and $70.1 billion respectively, the RBC news agency reported Friday.

[Demeter]

7. The 15 Most Miserable Economies in the World

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-02/the-15-most-miserable-economies-in-the-world

VIDEO AT LINK

[Demeter]

8. Obama emailed Clinton on her private address (THE ONE HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT)

THE GUY IS SLIME, THAT'S ALL.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/09/us-usa-politics-clinton-obama-idUSKBN0M51VR20150309

President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton exchanged emails during her time as secretary of state, the White House said on Monday, confirming the president was aware that his potential successor used a private email address for government work.

Obama said in an interview with CBS on Saturday that he found out about Clinton's use of a personal email account through recent news reports, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama was aware of her address earlier.

"The president, as I think many people expected, did over the course of his first several years in office trade emails with his secretary of state," Earnest told reporters.

"The point that the president was making is not that he didn’t know Secretary Clinton’s email address. He did. But he was not aware of the details of how that email address and that server had been set up, or how Secretary Clinton and her team were planning to comply with the Federal Records Act.”

MORE EXCUSES AT LINK

[Demeter]

9. Economic Study of NY Universal Healthcare Act Released

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/PRESS-RELEASE---Economic-Study-Shows-Benefits-of-Universal-Healthcare-Bill.html?soid=1101804494631&aid=Lsa5Rn8XBNs

UMass Amherst Econ. Dept. Chair Documents $45B Net Savings to Families, Businesses, Taxpayers from "NY Health" Program



98% of Households Would Pay Less Than They Do Now and 200,000 Jobs Would Be Created



New York would net savings of $45 billion a year by creating a universal health plan, even after counting increased spending to cover the uninsured and eliminate co-payments, deductibles and out-of-network charges, according to an economic analysis released Tuesday, March 10. The Chair of the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst released the comprehensive economic study of the New York Health Act (A.5062, Gottfried/S.3525, Perkins), a proposed universal health care program for New York State. The full report can be found here.



Key findings include:



The Act would save $71 billion in its first year:

$26.5 billion by eliminating private health insurance administration and profit;
$20.7 billion by reducing healthcare provider administration of health insurance claims;
$2 billion by eliminating employer administration of health insurance benefits;
$5.4 billion by reducing fraudulent billing;
$16.3 billion by capturing savings from overpriced drugs and medical devices.

$26 billion would be used to increase coverage, meet demand for increased utilization, pay healthcare providers fairly and retrain displaced workers, leaving $45 billion ($2200 per New Yorker) in net savings;
98% of New Yorkers (families making up to $436,000 a year) would spend less on health care coverage under the Act than they do now;
Overall savings to businesses would spur the creation of over 200,000 new jobs;
Property taxes could be cut as local governments would save over $13 billion, because New York Health would take over the local share of Medicaid and the cost of public employee benefits would be reduced;
14,000 deaths would be prevented by providing universal access to healthcare

"Based on other studies of universal health insurance programs and the experience in every other industrial country that has one, I expected savings," said Gerald Friedman, Chair of the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. "But because New York's healthcare spending has increased so rapidly compared to income, the savings available in New York are even greater than in other states. Economically, this plan makes total sense. The only thing stopping New York from implementing it is the political power of the insurance industry and its tens of billions of dollars in profit from the current system."

more

[mother earth]

21. Well, duh, on the only thing stopping NY from implementing it. Anyone for universal/single payer HC

knows why we didn't go for it, or have it. Still...in the end it will happen because nothing else is sustainable.

[Demeter]

10. EU watchdog sees mandatory rate swaps clearing later in 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/eu-derivatives-regulations-idUKL5N0WE2HX20150312

The European Union is expected to make clearing of interest rate swaps mandatory from later this year, its securities market watchdog said on Thursday. The 28-country bloc is rolling out rules to make derivatives safer and more transparent after their opacity exacerbated the 2007-09 financial crisis. Mandating clearing of interest rate swaps (IRS), which account for 80 percent of the world's $690 trillion derivatives market, means they would have to pass through a third party which guarantees the completion of the trade even if one side goes broke.

Steven Maijoor, chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority, told a pensions conference that the watchdog had completed an analysis of the interest rate swaps market and had recommended that the European Commission endorses mandatory clearing.

"I would hope before the end of the year they will start to apply a central clearing obligation," Maijoor said. "This upcoming central clearing obligation should result in a significant reduction of systemic risk in Europe."

Mandatory clearing of IRS would be phased in for different users, with pension funds coming into the net in 2017. Pension funds use interest rate swaps to cover the risk of unexpected rate shifts hitting their investments. Maijoor told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference that credit default swap indices would be next in line for mandatory clearing, most likely in 2016.

MORE

I'VE GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS...

[Demeter]

11. SEC's White breaks her silence on controversial waiver policy

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-sec-white-waivers-idUSKBN0M81N620150312

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White on Thursday defended the process her agency follows when deciding whether to grant regulatory waivers to companies that break the law, saying it is not a "knee-jerk exercise."

Thursday marked the first time White has publicly discussed her views on the waiver process, which came under scrutiny about a year ago after the agency's two Democratic commissioners began accusing the agency of rubber-stamping waivers and creating a policy of "too-big-to-bar."

White took a balanced approach to the issue, saying the SEC will not be deterred from denying waivers to big banks if necessary. At the same time, she said, waivers should not be viewed as an enforcement tool to deter misconduct.

"Denying a company a waiver under circumstances where the applicable legal standards to grant it are satisfied would be a miscarriage of our duty," White said in comments at Georgetown Law's Corporate Counsel Institute.

"Granting a waiver where it is not justified would also, of course, be a miscarriage of our duty and risk harm to investors and the markets."

The discussion of SEC regulatory waivers was sparked last year by SEC Commissioner Kara Stein, who issued a scathing public dissent over a type of waiver granted to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc after one of its units pleaded guilty to manipulating the Libor benchmark interest rate.

Stein accused the SEC of creating a policy of "too big to bar" by rubber-stamping waivers from banks that keep breaking the law....

GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS ONE, TOO

MORE

[Demeter]

12. London to host "war game" to test EU capital markets plan

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/eu-markets-policymakers-idUSL5N0WE1MK20150312

European Union plans to lift flagging growth by raising more funds on markets will be tested in a "war game" next week to identify pitfalls and help keep Britain on board the EU train. Brussels has outlined steps for a "capital markets union" (CMU) to tap stock, bond and other markets more effectively for plugging funding gaps left by retrenching banks. Up to 40 officials from finance ministries, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the European Parliament, big investors and lenders will simulate how the CMU plans could work at the March 19 event and which political potholes to avoid.

The aim is to break new ground in EU policymaking.

"We wanted to try a new method which engages the participants much more in developing the arguments rather than a traditional panel discussion," said Hans Blomeier of Germany's Konrad Adenauer foundation, the event's main organiser.

The foundation placed the war game in London because it is Europe's biggest financial centre and it could benefit from the CMU and persuade the country to stay in the EU, Blomeier added. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum on EU membership if he wins reelection in May.

"Nothing has been finalised on the CMU so we thought it was important to deliver ideas before everything is done, cooked and decided," Blomeier said.

"If you want the benefits of the EU, then you have to be a member," he added. War game results will be included in the EU's public consultation on the CMU plans.

The exercise was designed by John Ryan, a Cambridge University economics professor, and Gergely Polner, head of EU public affairs at Standard Chartered bank. Participants will be split into teams to come up with specific solutions and then test them.

EU financial services chief Jonathan Hill wants the basics of the CMU in place by 2019 but faces scepticism that more urgency and focus is needed to drive through changes that will inevitably hit decades-old vested interests. Polner said the war game seeks to identify such barriers and how best to get round them.

"We are trying to forecast how the CMU discussion will run and get people to answer what will be the major dividing lines, what would the British or say Polish position be, how would the main parties respond," Polner said.

There is also heavy emphasis on the users of markets like investors, who are typically less active than banks in lobbying the EU on what they want.


WHY NOT GIVE PEACE A CHANCE? THIS HAS DISASTER WRITTEN ALL OVER IT.

[Demeter]

13. Major nations hold talks on ending U.N. sanctions on Iran

SOMEBODY MUST BE RUNNING OUT OF EXPORT MARKETS...OR IS AFRAID THAT A BIG RUSSIAN BEAR IS GOING TO EAT ITS PICNIC BASKET...OR THEY NEED IRAN TO FIGHT ISIS!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-iran-nuclear-idUSKBN0M82IS20150312\

Major world powers have begun talks about a United Nations Security Council resolution to lift U.N. sanctions on Iran if a nuclear agreement is struck with Tehran, a step that could make it harder for the U.S. Congress to undo a deal, Western officials said. The talks between Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — the five permanent members of the Security Council — plus Germany and Iran, are taking place ahead of difficult negotiations that resume next week over constricting Iran's nuclear ability. Some eight U.N. resolutions - four of them imposing sanctions - ban Iran from uranium enrichment and other sensitive atomic work and bar it from buying and selling atomic technology and anything linked to ballistic missiles. There is also a U.N. arms embargo. Iran sees their removal as crucial as U.N. measures are a legal basis for more stringent U.S. and European Union measures to be enforced. The U.S. and EU often cite violations of the U.N. ban on enrichment and other sensitive nuclear work as justification for imposing additional penalties on Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Wednesday that an Iran nuclear deal would not be legally binding, meaning future U.S. presidents could decide not to implement it. That point was emphasized in an open letter by 47 Republican senators sent on Monday to Iran's leaders asserting any deal could be discarded once President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017. But a Security Council resolution on a nuclear deal with Iran could be legally binding, say Western diplomatic officials. That could complicate and possibly undercut future attempts by Republicans in Washington to unravel an agreement.

Iran and the six powers are aiming to complete the framework of a nuclear deal by the end of March, and achieve a full agreement by June 30, to curb Iran's most sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years in exchange for a gradual end to all sanctions on the Islamic Republic. So far, those talks have focused on separate U.S. and European Union sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors, which Tehran desperately wants removed. The sanctions question is a sticking point in the talks that resume next week in Lausanne, Switzerland, between Iran and the six powers. But Western officials involved in the negotiations said they are also discussing elements to include in a draft resolution for the 15-nation Security Council to begin easing U.N. nuclear-related sanctions that have been in place since December 2006.

"If there's a nuclear deal, and that's still a big 'if', we'll want to move quickly on the U.N. sanctions issue," an official said, requesting anonymity.

MORE

[Demeter]

14. How did individual banks fare on loans as assets?

There is a wide difference in loans as assets across banks

Loans as a percentage of assets vary widely across banks, mainly due to the focus of the bank. Traditional banks are likely to have more loans. Those with an investment banking focus are likely to have lower loans. Full-service banks are likely to have a number somewhere in between traditional banks and investment banks.

http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Sqr914eF2pvLBjBOTKDkfg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTMwMA--/?w=300&h=214&fit=max&auto=format

Wells Fargo is the best of the big four banks in terms of loans

Wells Fargo (WFC) has the highest percentage of loans as assets among the big four banks. Wells Fargo has 54.19% of its assets as loans. Bank of America (BAC) follows closely behind with 53.88%. JP Morgan (JPM) is considered to have the strongest investment banking division among the big four. JP Morgan has only 33.58% of its assets as loans.
Mid-sized banks have a higher percentage of loans

US Bank (USB) has the highest percentage of loans among the top 10 banks by assets. Among the well-known banks, Sun Trust has the highest percentage of loans as assets. This ratio, together with other indicators, can give an idea of which banks are the best plays in economic recovery.

Banks tend to perform well in the economic recovery phase, because in an economic recovery phase, loan growth is rising and yields on loans are rising. At the same time, non-performing assets are falling. These factors benefit the banks doubly. This makes Sun Trust and US Bank a good play on economic recovery. Both these banks are a part of the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF). Sun Trust accounts for a small 0.71% of the portfolio weight of XLF.

PART OF A SERIES, MORE AT LINK

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/did-individual-banks-fare-loans-020518872.html

[Demeter]

15. See you Saturday! I'm off to see the (greater) world!

[MattSh]

17. I'll be kicking of the Weekend Economists this week...

I've got something already lined up. It'll be posted around 3 AM EST or midnight PST.

I hope not to disappoint!

[DemReadingDU]

18. Thank you! I'll check out the weekend in the morning!

[Fuddnik]

19. And John Oliver will check out last week tonight.

On Sunday.

[Ghost Dog]

20. l'm still trying to work out

what happened last night.