WaMu and More: Uninsured Depositors Begging for Trouble

Anyone with uninsured deposits (those exceeding FDIC limits) at Washington Mutual (WM) is begging for trouble.

If you work for a corporation that has its payroll or large corporate account (above the FDIC limit) at WaMu and you want to get paid, you better get this message to corporate headquarters right away: WaMu Slumps as Gimme Credit Cites Liquidity Concern.

Washington Mutual Inc. tumbled for a second day in New York trading after Gimme Credit LLC said unsecured creditors were "pulling funds'' from the biggest U.S. savings and loan. Washington Mutual disputed the report.

Gimme Credit analyst Kathleen Shanley cited a decline in federal funds purchased and commercial paper to $75 million from $2 billion at year-end, which Washington Mutual reported this week in its second-quarter results. Securities sold under agreements to repurchase dropped to $214 million from $4.1 billion at the end of 2007, she wrote.

Washington Mutual, known as WaMu, reported a $3.3 billion second-quarter loss on July 23. Rising delinquencies forced the Seattle-based company to boost provisions for bad loans. While WaMu said it has enough capital after raising more than $7 billion earlier this year, Shanley said liquidity remains a concern.

"We won't use the phrase 'run on the bank,' but we would be remiss if we did not observe that many creditors have quietly been pulling funds," wrote Shanley, based in Chicago. Their actions are "presenting an increasing funding challenge," she wrote. Gimme Credit is an independent research firm serving corporate bond investors.

Run On The Bank?

I do not know if there is a run on WaMu or not. What I do know is that if you are reading this and are above the FDIC limit, and you don't immediately do something about it, then you you have no right to complain if WaMu goes under and you lose every penny above the FDIC limit. Sheila Bair seems proud of saying only 13% of troubled banks fail. However, even if one accepts that number, it makes no economic sense to take risks when there is nothing to gain and everything to lose when one is over the FDIC limit.

Unusual PUT Activity

My friend AJ alerted me of unusual PUT activity on Washington Mutual on Thursday.

AJ writes: "Someone thinks WM is going under. 35,000 Aug. put contracts traded at the 3 strike today, and 12,000 Sept. PUT contracts at the same strike. Both dwarfed open interest, so they're mostly new positions. This reminds me of activity in Bear Stearns in March."

Here is a dynamic table of options on WaMu:.

(click on chart for sharper image)

In case you are not familiar with the term, PUT buyers are betting on or protecting against share price declines. This is heavy activity at the strike discussed. The above table is from Thursday.

Washington Mutual debt protection costs jump

Action in Credit Default Swaps [CDS] show a large as well as increasing chance of bankruptcy at WaMu. Reuters is reporting Washington Mutual debt protection costs jump .

Credit protection costs on Washington Mutual rose sharply on Friday, a day after an analyst said some creditors reduced their exposure to the largest U.S. savings and loan.

The cost of protecting [$10 million of] Washington Mutual's debt for five years rose to $1.85 million on an upfront basis, plus $500,000 in annual premiums, up from about $1.35 million plus $500,000 annually on Thursday, according to a trader.

Not Just WaMu

By the way, I am not just talking about WaMu here. Any bank whose share price is in the single digits is at extreme risk. Any bank whose share price is under $5 is at risk of imploding overnight. Here is a partial list:

Washington Mutual (WM)

Corus Bank (CORS)

Bank United (BKUNA).

National City Corporation (NCC).

If you have money above the FDIC limit at any of those banks, you better do something about it.

There is roughly $6.84 Trillion in total bank deposits. $2.60 Trillion of that total is uninsured.

Just make sure none of that uninsured money is yours.

Comments

[Wez]

Good advice. Be careful though, you know they are "watching" you evil bloggers now.

[bob the lover]

Are you short any of these Banks?
i want you to read this from the FDIC:

FDIC learns it ignores bloggers at its peril
San Francisco Business Times - by Mark Calvey
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - 1:13 PM PDT

The federal agency insuring bank deposits learned that it can't afford to ignore the blogs following its seizure this month of IndyMac Bank, the largest bank failure since the 1980s.

"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.

That's putting it mildly. Following the FDIC's takeover of IndyMac on July 11, widely followed blogs were speculating on bank runs on some of California's largest banks based on nothing more than people waiting for their branch to open or large deposits moving between financial institutions.

The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future.

"We're very mindful of the media coverage and blogs in controlling misinformation. All I can say is were going to continue to stay on top of it," Bair said. "The misinformation that came out over the weekend fed a lot of depositors' fears."

The FDIC also plans to begin airing public service announcements as part of a public education campaign on the nation's deposit insurance program.

Although Bair declined to disclose financial institutions on the agency's troubled-bank list, she said most institutions on the list will survive. Some, though, may decide to team up with healthier institutions. Historically, only 13 percent on the troubled banks list actually fail, she said, adding that disclosing who is on the troubled list would likely boost the failure rate from 13 percent to 100 percent as customers pulled deposits.

Many are watching how some of the nation's largest banks will cope with their mortgage-lending woes, including Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM), Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Cleveland-based National City (NYSE: NCC).

"These are challenging times for a number of institutions large and small," Bair said. "We've worked with them as their primary regulator. They've raised a lot capital, they're getting their loan loss reserves up. They're doing everything they can and should do."

"The capital is there to absorb the losses," she added. "Some will have some bad quarters, but still overall they're quite solvent, healthy institutions, and they'll get through this."


sanfrancisco.bizjourna...

[User 227528]

This is not first of this kind of “analysis” from your part and it is obvious you are short on WM and WB and others, but you are not helping your cause by not disclosing this fact.

You may make a few dollars with your short positions but your credibility is being ruined by not being candid of your intentions.

If you think credibility is not important then ask yourself why those banks are being shorted and you may realize there are things more valuable than money…

Good luck with your short…

[Research123]

Jeeze - why don't you just shout "fire" in a crowded building you numbskull!!

[bob the lover]

if he is short WM or any of the other banks he NEEDS to disclose that fact.

I have reported this blog to WM, to the SEC, and to the FDIC.
i suggest everyone else do the same.

[Bman]

Good advice on one level, but I think comments like this that single out any Bank by name are foolish and irresponsible...even for a blog. In fact, I you'd be an idiot to think that a "run" couldn't be generated by news hysteria...on any Bank right now.

Yes, be smart and be insured. NO! Doubt be an idiot (Schummer-like) and create hysteria.

[Wez]

So let me get this straight, WM losses billions of dollars each quarter, literally bleeding truckloads of money (try to picture how much $3.3 billion is, hint, it would take several tractor trailers to haul it) and by posting headlines from sites like bloomberg and recommending people use caution with uninsured deposits, you feel the author is being irresponsible?

My take is the idiots who are long this stock would rather stick their head in the sand than hear anything negative.

[User 227528]

In the post titled: “Citi, Merrill, WaMu: Death Spiral Financing” I posted a comment about how this “no brainer” shorts could create a short squeeze that may become the biggest bear trap ever!

The overselling of the stock in the past two days seems to guarantee a short squeeze if the bank isn’t seized by the FDIC this week (which isn’t as sure as you want people to beleive).

I hope your bets are covered…

As for “seeking alpha” editors: Someone needs to realize, the reputation of this site is being jeopardized by one writer who doesn’t bother to disclose his biases.

[User 12704]

It is not wise to hold over the FDIC insured limit in any financial institution. It is possible to avoid going over the limit by having mulitiple accounts of various types. That said, it appears that this article/blog is short on substance and designed to fan the flames. Does the author have a short position? I have no idea. Does he want to attract attention with his chicken little stance. Absolutely. But rumor mongering has became a dangerous game these days. As it stands, some of those who were responsible for causing the run on Bear Stears are under investigation. By the way, if you are looking to be careful, you may want to worry less about your bank account and more about your money market fund at the brokerage. Depending on the vehicle, some of those carry absolutely no insurance. And if you look at what kind of instruments they are currently holding to generate your 3% return, some of them are downright scary... CDO's, et cetera.

[Bman]

Wez...you better check the article...you quote too generously. Also, you should read my post.

It is stupid...just look at what happen to IndyMac.

[Keeping it Real]

I'm so tired of author's on this site not giving dicslosure. I plan on reporting this author to the SEC!

[Syrus]

Still a lot of bad or incomplete information out there about FDIC limits too. At least he didn't explicitly say "don't keep over 100k at any bank" like some have. If you check the FDIC website and use the EDIE calculator it's easy to find ways to structure multiple accounts at the same institution and still be fully insured. For instance, a couple with 1 minor child could insure over 800k very easily. ANYONE exceeding FDIC limits at ANY bank right now is at risk, but make sure you know what your limits really are!

[User 227528]

WaMu spokesman Derek Aney said in an email to CNNMoney.com that the company had "increased our available liquidity to more than $50 billion." The company previously had said that its liquidity was $40 billion as of the end of the second quarter.

money.cnn.com/2008/07/...

Hopefully this news will be all over the place on Monday to start the short squeeze windfall.

[moonbat1775]

I deposit money in a checking account. That money is available to me at any time. Hence it is called a "demand" deposit. The bank then LOANS about 90% of that money out. Anyone smell anything rotten?

A system built on ignorant confidence is a "con" game. Any wonder it is unstable?

[bob the lover]

If you work for a corporation that has its payroll or large corporate account (above the FDIC limit) at WaMu and you want to get paid, you better get this message to corporate headquarters right away: WaMu Slumps as Gimme Credit Cites Liquidity Concern.
--^^^^___

He isn’t just telling retail depositors to withdraw WM funds-
He is ordering all workers to tell their bosses that they should Immediately change from WM into another bank for payroll!

He is flat out trying to scare corporations and workers that use WAMU for payroll purposes into leaving WAMU for fear that they won't get paid!

He is stating as fact: that if you use WM for payroll you won’t get paid!

This goes beyond the pale- it is entirely unacceptable.
Seeking Alpha needs to pull this piece of trash.

[Wez]

Bman, are you blind? Read this:

seekingalpha.com/artic...

Not everyone thinks what Senator Schumer did was wrong. Some think we need more Schumers.

If you really really thought WM was going to be fine, and wanted to invest in it...than you should welcome every drop as a windfall of profits in the future. If you are pissed because you have rode this loser down, don't blame others for your losses. These companies got fat by selling toxic waste into our economy for years. I'm not going to cry if there are a few less banks at the end of this mess.

[bob the lover]

Wez, that might be the most inane thing I have ever heard.

This country doesn’t need anymore bank runs.
The economy doesn’t need more bank failures.

This country doesn’t need to see millions and millions of depositors waiting in massive lines because they are afraid to leave their funds in banks.

The truth is- if depositors don’t flee (run) then the banks won’t go under.
If depositors run on any bank en masse then that bank will fail.

No bank is immune to a run- and to purposefully call for (or cause) a bank run is at a very minimum instigating chaos- and it is also perhaps illegal.
Enter your comment here

[ronh]

seems to be a whole lot of 'shoot the messenger" here.

I, for one, appreciate the article. We need more people raising the red flag about poorly run financial institutions, and we all need to be aware that not every bank is safe. Far to many people are at risk, and do not know that they are. There is no reason to take any risk at all for the paltry amount of interest these banks will give you on checking account or CD. Leaving your cash in any institution with even a hint of a problem, is absolutely foolish.

The article is important, and trying to ignore the facts is idiotic.

[Wez]

Are you kidding me Bob? Are you just a visitor to this planet, cause you don't seem to understand how things work? Banks don't go under because a blogger says they are in trouble. They go under because they ran a bad business and actually are in trouble.

Let's do an experiment. Let's all start saying that JPM, or BAC or WFC is going out of business and call for everyone to go get their money or they will lose it.

As I've already said, not everyone thinks that what Senator Schumer did with IndyMac was wrong. A lot of us think he was a canary in the coal mine and wish more people in the know would alert us to poorly run companies that represent a risk to our capital. Again, read carefully, IndyMac was going out of business and Schumer gave us a heads up.....he did not cause them to go out of business.

The only people crying here are those who made a bet on this stock or others like it, and lost.

[Ali F.]

It amazes me how many of you guys love to be fear mongers at times like these. Everyone jumps on the "Fires burning" bandwagon but no one really likes to look at the reality of the situation and cover both sides. And why should they? There is no huge fan base or captive audience if you are not spreading random speculation and sensational stories. Scaring the daylights out of regular people who are not familiar with the facts or comfortable with the knowledge base needed to understand the matter as a whole is wrong and shameful. All you guys do it keep on writing the most irresponsible things you can just short of attracting legal consequences and hope that you develop a following of people looking for leadership during a difficult time. It's just your type of reckless "Reporting" (and I use that term about as loosely as possible) that causes the very problems you like to claim are just on the horizon. But then again, if you cause it then you would be right now wouldn’t you, so there is an upside I guess.

[moonbat1775]

With an honest banking system, bank runs would be impossible. The bank would either tell you, "Sorry, but you agreed for us to lend out your money; come back in x-months and we will give it to you then." or "Here it is sir, we kept it safe for you."

To loan out money obtained from CDs is honest, to loan out money from demand (e.g. checking) accounts is DISHONEST.
Besides dishonesty, the boom-bust cycle has been traced to fractional (fraudulent) reserve banking. Read Murray N. Rothbard and von Mises for details.

[robert99]

I have been reading Mish's Blog for over a year now, and one thing I can say about it is that Mish's articles most certainly do not lack substance. He has made many excellent calls on multiple companies, and I am convinced that he is one of the very few truly objective bloggers out there - hence his success. If he is short WM, then yes, he should disclose that information. However, if WM is in danger of going under, no amount of pollyannish tongue holding will prevent it from doing so. When times are bad, those companies which acted irresponsibly when times were good will be punished. That is the nature of the business cycle, and short of the abolition of the Federal Reserve and fractional banking, that will never change. If WM goes under, it will only be part of the natural cleansing process which should ALWAYS occur after a bubble. If the natural correction is not allowed to occur, another bubble will be built on top of the previous one, and when the big bubble pops, the resulting period of economic pain will be MUCH WORSE than it necessarily had to be. If you want to stop this process from occurring, get on board the wagon to create a new banking system. Otherwise, please refrain from making me sift through your ignorant comments to find the good ones. All of you who are falling for the 'blame the bloggers' BS should realize this: WM took on too many RMBS, and is now in danger of going under. If WM goes bankrupt, it will be no one's fault but management.

[Rob50]

At a certain point the logic and validity of any comment saying 'Run! Get out before they close the door!' becomes absurd imo.
In the case of WM people seem to be pricing this like every loaan in whole catagories willl go default and be worthles, yet people like me and many of us, continue to pay our bills and work and live.
Valuing WM as worth 4 Billion? Come on, that is just rediculous. I understand the math, the posssibilities of a run, the lack of confidence and hysteria atm, but this is getting stupid.
We willl have a few quarters of bad results along with more oof the same building reserves.
That doesn't mean that every loan is going bad. It is a result of the Reserve requirements tightening. That is the condition every bank, esp those that borrow from the Fed makking it extremely difficult they will go under, has to abide by atm.
2 years from now I will be surprised if I haven't made 400-1000% gain imo. BTW I am long WM...LOL
Many times I have seen SeekingAlpha articles full disclosure, but it would have been nice here too.

[Bman]

Wez...you lack facts. State...you lack facts. The fact is that no bank in the world has enough cash to withstand a run. Fact! Hysteria and the current market environment ensured InduMac's failure. Fact! IndtMac business practices made it vulerable to the prior point. Fact. Irresponsible blog articles can result in hysteria...the rest is obvious.

Be stupid or an idiot. But the above are facts.

[MikeW]

Disclosure: I'm long WM at the moment. At the moment being the operative phrase. The legitimate, long-term investors have left the building. I see relatively little downside risk ($3.91 to 0), and decent upside opportunity ($3.91 to $6) so what the heck. When the housing bill passes, or when the SEC bans short-selling across the board, there may be a short squeeze that will make me some money. I've been one of those shorts in the past, and reserve the right to be in the future if it isn't banned. Who knows WaMu's future. I know they took huge risks and are paying a price for it. I closed my account there a year ago because they had a savings account promotion that assumed depositors were as stupid as their borrowers. After I spent 20 minutes filling out forms they said would take 5 minutes, I ended up with a 0.5% savings account when they had offered several %. If they go down, they deserve it,
if they don't, recent shareholders can make a few bucks. Those who have held their shares for a long time, sorry.

Mish tells it as it is, as always.

[squashnut]

Hey, guess what. Two more banks failed quietly late friday (as always) Is this fear-mongering? No, just the facts.

Here's a little law: perfectly legal to shout fire in a crowded theater when the theater is on fire. In fact, in some situations you may have a duty.

My bank, now called TD Commerce, told me that my checking and savings accounts were each insured up to $100,000, which is a lie.

Here's another one: major US commercial and investment banks are carrying hundreds of $billions in assets on or off their balance sheets that may be worth much less than they have written. Think that's manipulation? Sue me and let them prove otherwise in court.

DISCLOSURE: I HAVE PUT OPTIONS ON MANY MAJOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS BECAUSE I DON'T BELIEVE THEY ARE ADEQUATELY CAPITALIZED.

[rcebayer]

While I appreciate your right to express your opinion, I think at some point the media needs to keep in mind report the news. Report the news. Not insight a riot. Some of these organizations are trying really hard to right themselves and reports like this just induce panic and can ultimately be the cause the demise. There alot of lives thaat can be effected in these companies, just to write an article. If that ever happens to me, I will be the first in line to file action against the media source(s) that unleash these so called helpful stories. Report the news. Dont start a snowball.......

[squashnut]

OK here's some more news. "Wall Street preferred subprime and no-doc loans because of the higher yield from securitization, so people who might otherwise qualify for a prime mortgage were told not to provide cocumentation". More riot inciting? No, just sworn testimony to Congress. Happy your 29 billion went to Bear Stearns' creditors?
So sorry if you can't face the truth. Just get your news from television you'll sleep ok.

[oldtrdr]

I am/was one of those "long term investors" in WaMu. Fortunately, I was stopped out of the position at $34 roughly a year ago, exiting with a small profit. FWIW, I have a small personal checking account there, and in 3 years, have NEVER had a deposited item returned for ANY reason (and have NEVER bounced a check). About a month ago, I started receiving letters on a regular basis, informing me of "holds" being put on deposits (most of which are made via ATM, as I would suspect most are). Kinda makes one wonder...

[GregY]

All we need is more garbage like this!

[margin321]

Well of the 6.4 TRILLION of Deposits in these banks, little CORS has a few billion. They also have zero morgatges, no sub-prime, no derivatives, have a totally different business model. I can't imagine why you lump them with these others.

[notsosmart]

this site is a riot.the average joe is not on this site. the average joe is swilling beer & watching sports.banks & business that are well run should fail.uninformed citizens should be allowed to lose money & homes & cars& boats,etc.we had to pass a whistleblower law so that an ethical person could not be prosecuted for tattling on crooks & lawbreakers.and now we have conservative socialism to bail out the wealthy.how many on this site are happy to pay for this bailout.it should be voluntary.the person said it best.if there is a fire in the place its your job to holler "fire".senat... citizen etc.

[notsosmart]

should have said-business not well run.sorry.

[notsosmart]

a p.s. it does not matter anymore as you cant believe anybody about anything.you have to think for yourself as the market has just become vegas only slower & nobody brings you a drink.

[notsosmart]

right now go to "chief appraiser at indymac" a little further down on this site to learn,perhaps, of what went on to create this mess.then you can write about the "fools" who warn about crooked banks.

[Yousaidwhat]

Looks to me like Gimme Credit analyst Kathleen Shanley may have had another motive for citing a decline in federal funds purchased and commercial paper at WaMu. Note that she is also an analyst for Bank of America according to the following website:

atlanta.bizjournals.co...

[notsosmart]

like i keep saying.everybody has an agenda.

[kjapan]

well, then go get Tommy O of TFNN because on his radio show two days in a row he gave the same analysis and said the charts show that this bank may go out of business-Two Days in a row-what was said here is nothing that we do not already know.

[tiredofallthecrap]

I always remember this- there's rarely any GOOD news when watching or reading the news. Everyone likes to talk about the bad stuff- its human nature to complain when we are unhappy but rarely, do we give positive feedback when our grocery store checker is nice to us. But if she pisses us off, the store manager will hear about that.

So take everything you read in the news/media with a grain of salt and realize everyone's got an agenda to push....

I dont want to see anymore banks go under and WaMu with 50 billion in capital is solid- CITI has reported far worse losses, with more expected, but I don't hear people beating them up and down with articles like this jack ass wrote.

[arbuge]

This analysis is less than half-baked, with all due respect? Since when is a stock a bad buy because it's price is below $5? Stock price tells you nothing about valuation. Neither does "put activity". So what if some anonymous guy thinks some stock is going down? How do you know he's not a moron?

[jjason]

Mish, All you should have done was to point out the FDIC limits on insured deposits.

When you mention specific companies you should disclose if you are long or short or have no interest in them.

Finally, have you, Mish, done anything to complain to the SEC about all the firms that are on the Threshold List for more than 30 days?

[Keeping it Real]

I agree! "put activity" and a stock price below $5 means NOTHING except the stock price will explode to the upside if the majority is wrong.

[Wez]

Bman, you lack sanity. You confuse your opinion with facts. IndyMac failed because it was run poorly, not for any other reason. If WaMu fails, it will have nothing what so ever to do with Mish. I'm sorry you are getting crushed looking for a bounce in a sector that has yet to hit bottom, but the "facts" are......there will be many more BKs before this washout is done, regardless of what is written here.

[forwoodenboats]

I agree the author of this sensationalist "piece" of work is trying to create a run on the bank.
Otherwise he would have posted the rest of the article he was qouting, rather than cherry picking the worst part, knowing that most people don't bother reading past the headlines, much less follow the link to see if there is any data that might balance out the article and Shedlock's anonymous joker "AJ".
The rest of the story;

<i>``As we stated publicly months ago, WaMu funds all of its business through its banking operations and does not rely on commercial paper,'' the company said in an e-mailed response.

Cash Infusion

Chief Executive Officer Kerry Killinger has said the $7 billion cash infusion led by TPG Inc., coupled with plans to save $1 billion annually by trimming the mortgage business, gives the lender enough money to ride out the U.S. housing slump. The decline in federal funds purchased on WaMu's balance sheet may be the result of the company using cash to prefund short-term maturities and not creditors withdrawing money, which suggests it didn't need to borrow in the Fed Funds market, WaMu said.

WaMu slid 62 cents, or 13 percent, to $4.03 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock fell 20 percent yesterday and has lost 90 percent of its value in the past year.

Some 335 million WaMu shares changed hands, more than eight times the daily average over the past year, according to Bloomberg data. The stock has moved at least 10 percent nine times in the past three weeks.

Credit-Default Swaps

Credit-default swap sellers demanded 14 percentage points upfront and 5 percentage points a year to protect WaMu bonds from default for five years, up from 7.3 percentage points a year yesterday, according to CMA Datavision.

That means it would cost $1.4 million initially and $500,000 a year to protect $10 million in bonds. Yesterday, that would have cost $730,000 a year without an upfront payment. Protection sellers start demanding upfront payments when the risk of an imminent default increases.

Credit-default swaps were conceived to protect bondholders against default, and pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should the company fail to adhere to its debt agreements.

Analysts at Piper Jaffray Cos., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Friedman Billings Ramsey Group Inc. said after WaMu's earnings report that it may need to raise more cash. According to a clause in the TPG agreement, if WaMu raises more than $500 million in equity at less than $8.75 a share within 18 months, it must compensate TPG for the difference.

Standard & Poor's said WaMu has the liquidity to meet obligations without raising more funds through 2012. Analysts at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG also said the company should have enough capital.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at [e-mail]

Last Updated: July 24, 2008 17:34 EDT </i>

[HOODY]

FYI: you CAN have more than 100K at one bank!, ans still be FDIC insured.

for example:

a couple can have as much as 400K in one bank, although you would need to move the interest monthly out.

100K = 1 CD in husband name with wife as POD
100K = in wife’s name with husband as POD
200K = a money market in JOINT names

its ALL insured by FDIC ( except any interest accrued)

So if you wanted to do it like this you would also have to have the interest from the CD’s going back to the money market, and on a monthly basis move any amount in the money market to another bank. But it can be done.

Other way would be to make each CD just under 100K ( to cover any monthly interest) and keep the money market at around 150K to give time to accumulate to a point you would want to move the excess funds, as interest is moved from the CD’s to the money market.

check fdic.org

BTW: I did move funds from Wachovia just to be in the FDIC limits but still bank there.

[User 235044]

This really is crazy...But why 95% of the emphasis on WAMU? This Federal Gov't took entirely to long to attack the problem. Instead of illegally wire tapping and telling the American people evrything is ok, we are not in a recession, the Bush Admin. should have been more proactive in protecting the middle class American from this financial tragedy. Let's chat more about it...talkwithmalik.typepad....

[Bret]

I agree... the poor guy's short sale isn't going very good for him. His $3.00 strike price PUT contracts cost him 41 cents. They're worth 8 cents right now. Everybody be sad for the poor (pun intended) shorter.