Market Currents

• Wednesday, December 2, 2009

• 09:38 AM Credit Suisse upgrades regional banks (STI, BBT), saying loan-loss provisions are set to peak this quarter and non-performing loan levels will peak in the next. "With 75% upside and 25% downside on average, we believe investors should be forward-looking and use attractive valuation and weak price action around the Q4 'kitchen sink' results to overweight the regional banks," firm says. BBT +1.9% early on. STI +1.5%. Comment!
• 08:56 AM U.S. bank stocks face above-average risks, Citigroup says, recommending investors "remain very selective" and focus on banks "that have strong capital positions, while avoiding banks with the combination of relatively high commercial real estate exposure and questionable capital strength." Citi's choice banks: BBT, FITB, BAC, STI. Duds: ZION, RF, KEY. 4 Comments

• Monday, October 19, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: IPCS +34%. ALLI +19%. CIT +7%. AAI +5%. CEO +5%. IMMU +4%. SIRI +4%. IMMU +4%.
  Losers: IDCC -9%. BEXP -6%. BBT -4%. Comment!
• 07:45 AM BB&T (BBT): Q3 EPS of $0.23 beats by $0.01. Revenue +16.1%. Provision for credit losses almost doubled to $709M. "Our earnings continue to be negatively affected by a significant provision for credit losses and other costs related to the credit environment." Shares -2.1% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable pre-market earnings: BPOP, BBT, ETN, GCI, HAS, JEF, MMR, WFT Comment!

• Wednesday, August 19, 2009

• 20:51 PM "When we looked at Colonial's portfolio versus ours, we saw a lot of borrowers we turned away" - BB&T (BBT) CFO Daryl Bible on his firm's takeover of Colonial Bank (CNB) loans and collateral, which are being marked down by 37%. Construction loans are being marked down by 67%. (See chart; via) 2 Comments

• Tuesday, August 18, 2009

• 17:20 PM BB&T (BBT) plans to sell common stock to raise over $900M, to be used for general purposes. The bank, fresh off its purchase of Colonial Bank's deposits, has priced an offering of 33.45M shares at $26. Comment!

• Monday, August 17, 2009

• 08:49 AM After picking up Colonial Bank's (CNB) branches and deposits last week, BB&T (BBT) is planning a $750M share sale to bolster its capital. BBT -3.3% premarket. Comment!

• Friday, August 14, 2009

• 18:17 PM BB&T (BBT +9.4%) assumes all deposits of Colonial Bank (CNB), closed by Alabama regulators in the year's 74th - and biggest - bank failure. The 346 branches reopen as BB&T under normal business hours tomorrow. A loss-share transaction on $15B in assets limits the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund to an estimated $2.8B. Colonial had total assets of $25B. 4 Comments
• 11:39 AM BB&T (BBT) shares up 4.9% amid reports it may be the one to buy ailing Colonial BancGroup (CNB -11.9%). 6 Comments

• Friday, July 17, 2009

• 07:41 AM BB&T (BBT): Q2 EPS of $0.20 misses by $0.01. $701M provision for credit losses, exceeding net chargeoffs by $250M. Will rebuy warrant from Treasury for $67M. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Friday's open: BAC, BBT, C, FHN, FNFG, GE, MAT, MI, WBS Comment!

• Wednesday, June 17, 2009

• 14:23 PM U.S. Bancorp (USB +1.1%) exits TARP. So do BB&T (BBT -1.7%), Morgan Stanley (MS -1%), Goldman Sachs (GS -1.7%), JPMorgan (JPM -1.1%), Capital One (COF +1.2%), Bank of New York Mellon (BK +1.7%), and American Express (AXP -1.4%). Comment!

• Tuesday, June 16, 2009

• 13:39 PM Bove estimates Goldman Sachs (GS) will be hit with a $1.13/share charge for its TARP payback. State Street (STT) $0.45. JPMorgan (JPM) $0.39. Northern Trust (NTRS) $0.38. Bank of New York Mellon (BK) $0.20. BB&T (BBT) $0.15. And U.S. Bancorp (USB) $0.13. Comment!

• Tuesday, June 9, 2009

• 10:03 AM 10 of 19 large banks have been given the go-ahead to repay $68B in TARP loans, Treasury's Geithner says. JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) appear to be among those approved, along with AXP, BNY, BBT, COF, STT, USB and NTRS. Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) likely not. 3 Comments

• Wednesday, May 13, 2009

• 09:02 AM Premarket gainers: QTM +7%. VNDA +5%. FTR +4%. SHPGY +4%. ETFC +3%. SNY +3%. AMD +2%.
  Losers: MDCO -44%. KRG -23%. SOLR -18%. CNB -18%. AIB -17%. BMR -14%. CTIC -14%. RBS -13%. MGM -12%. ODP -11%. NAT -11%. ING -11%. HBAN -10%. CLF -10%. AAAW -10%. BBT -9%. BCS -9%. LYG -9%. UBS -8%. AXA -8%. GNW -7%. BMC -7%. ACGY -7%. RAD -7%. DB -7%. HBC -7%. AXL -7%. ALU -7%. FIG -7%. FLEX -7%. RTP -7%. MBI -6%. HIG -6%. CNO -6%. VIP -6%. ABK -6%. RF -5%. FITB -5%. DPTR -5%. SI -5%. ABB -5%. Comment!