Market Currents

• Monday, December 21, 2009

• 10:23 AM BofA's (BAC) biggest risk may not be the controversy over its Merrill acquisition, Michael Lipper (of mutual fund fame) says, but the fallout - which gifts Merrill's herd of aggressive brokers with an almost endless number of 'little old ladies.' "All you need is one or two issues to blow up and then the regulators and the press will crucify you." Comment!
• 10:02 AM Dow leaders early on: AA +6.6%. JPM +2.7%. INTC +2.6%. BAC +2.1%. PFE +1.9%. MRK +1.8%. TRV +1.3%.
  Laggards: PG -0.3%. Comment!

• Friday, December 18, 2009

• 13:32 PM Dow leaders: INTC +3.1%. HPQ +1.8%. MSFT +1.5%. JPM +1.4%. BAC +1.4%.
  Dow laggards: BA -2%. PG -1.1%. CAT -0.6%. TRV -0.5%. AXP -0.5%. Comment!
• 08:40 AM Bank of America (BAC) apparently vetted the salary of potential CEO candidate Robert Kelly with U.S. paymaster Kenneth Feinberg, despite having exited TARP. Kenneth Feinberg said the $35-40M sought by the CEO of Bank of New York Mellon (BK) was excessive - a key reason the bank settled on internal candidate Brian Moynihan. 4 Comments

• Thursday, December 17, 2009

• 15:27 PM New BofA (BAC -2.4%) CEO Brian Moynihan tells a packed house of employees that the bank won't sell the U.S. Trust unit it bought in 2006 for $3.3B - despite speculation that BofA had no need for the wealth-management arm after taking on Merrill Lynch's wealth business, and amid other divestitures. 2 Comments
• 07:34 AM Brian Moynihan, 50, a lawyer by background, will be the first CEO in recent times not to have worked at BofA's (BAC) predecessor, North Carolina National Bank. In BofA's statement, Chairman Walter Massey said Moynihan "offered the advantage of a smooth transition," while Moynihan offered his first vision for the company: "What we need to do now is very simple... We need to execute." 2 Comments

• Wednesday, December 16, 2009

• 20:36 PM Bank of America (BAC) names Brian Moynihan the CEO to succeed Kenneth Lewis. Moynihan led the bank's consumer and small-business divisions and was considered one of two insiders (along with Chief Risk Officer Gregory Curl) who were likely successors after talks with BNY Mellon (BK) CEO Robert Kelly fell apart. 2 Comments
• 10:30 AM Dow leaders after one hour: AA -2.4%. DD +1.6%. KFT +1.2%. AXP +1.2%. BAC +1.1%. MSFT +1%. HPQ +0.9%. CVX +0.8%.
  Laggards: INTC -1.9%. BA -1.3%. Comment!

• Tuesday, December 15, 2009

• 15:53 PM More credit-card default and late-payment reports: JPMorgan Chase (JPM -2.2%): defaults up to 8.8%, delinquencies fall to 4.9%; BofA (BAC -2.9%): defaults down to 13%, delinquencies up to 7.69%; Citigroup (C -3.8%): defaults up to 10.29%, delinquencies up to 5.81%. Discover (DFS -2.7%): defaults up to 8.98%; delinquencies down to 5.65%. 3 Comments
• 11:15 AM Dow leaders: HD +1%. DD +0.9%. DIS +0.7%. MMM +0.7%. HPQ +0.6%.
  Dow laggards: BAC -2.1%. JPM -1.6%. PG -1.2%. T -1.2%. Comment!

• Monday, December 14, 2009

• 17:14 PM CEO Robert Kelly tells employees he's staying at Bank of New York Mellon (BK) and not taking the top job at BofA (BAC). From a memo reviewed by WSJ: "I wanted you to know - and to hear from me directly - that I'm not leaving BNY Mellon and I look forward to working with all of you to make this great company even stronger." 4 Comments
• 13:44 PM Bank of America (BAC) says it has pledged to President Obama to increase lending to small and medium businesses by at least $5B next year. In the first three quarters this year, BofA offered $12B in credit to small businesses and originated $215B in non-real-estate loans to medium-sized businesses. 3 Comments
• 10:30 AM Dow leaders after one hour: AA +1.3%. MRK +1.2%. HPQ +1.1%. CSCO +0.9%. DIS +0.9%. KFT +0.9%.
  Laggards: XOM -3.9%. WMT -1.3%. BAC -0.8%. Comment!
• 09:37 AM Bank of America's (BAC) problem could soon the Bank of New York's (BK). With BNY CEO Robert Kelly reportedly the frontrunner for BofA CEO, BNY has no succession plan. Comment!
• 09:20 AM Sources say Robert Kelly, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon (BK), is the front-runner for CEO at Bank of America (BAC), but Kelly wants more money. While BofA hasn't officially offered Kelly the top job, the gap between the executive and the bank's board "is down to compensation now," a source says. Comment!

• Saturday, December 12, 2009

• 08:00 AM ProPublica does the heavy lifting in digging up details of the mortgage modifications, breaking down the slow-moving program with a detailed chart that highlights the difficulties (especially at the big four - [[BAC]], [[JPM]], [[WFC]], [[C]]). 1 Comment