Entries Tagged 'Banking' ↓
September 26th, 2008 — Bank Failure, Bank Run, Banking, Chase, Credit Crisis, Economy, JP Morgan Chase, Mortgage Loans, Subprime Crisis, WaMu, Washington Mutual
In the largest bank failure in U.S. History, Washington Mutual crumbled last night, and was seized by federal regulators.
Under a deal brokered by the government, JPMorgan Chase [[JPM]] will acquire all the banking operations of WaMu, including $307 billion in assets and $188 billion in deposits.
WaMu’s assets were equal to about two-thirds of the book value of assets from almost 750 failed banks that were sold off during the previous S&L crisis that lasted from 1989 through 1995.
The acquisition of WaMu is JPMorgan Chase’s second major purchase this year. The first, of course, was its March acquisition of failed investment bank Bear Stearns, a deal that was also assembled by the government.
September 19th, 2008 — Bailout, Bailouts, Bank Run, Banking, Banking Crash, Central banks, Congress, Credit Crisis, Credit Crunch, Economy, Federal Reserve
Stocks soared today, with the Dow up 340 points with an hour left to go in the session, as the government’s plan to rescue banks from bad mortgage debt soothed investors’ fears at the end of a roller-coaster week on Wall Street.
Treasury bonds and gold prices tumbled as investors left these safe-haven plays and put their money into equities.
The S& 500 jumped 3.5%, and the Nasdaq gained 2.3%.
Small cap stocks were on the rise as well, with the Russell 2000 up nearly 3%.
September 19th, 2008 — Banking, Credit Crisis, Credit Crunch, Economy, Financial Meltdown, Government Bailout, Investment Banks
The federal government is now planning a far-reaching attempt to curtail the financial crisis, and is ready to establish a program that will allow banks get rid of bad mortgage-related assets that have been difficult to properly value, and almost impossible to trade.
House and the Senate leadership was briefed late on Thursday by both Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke.
Although many details of the plan are still murky, it is likely that the government will now take on hundreds of billions of dollars in bad mortgage assets.
Paulson and Bernanke plan to work through the weekend with a host of other officials, including congressional leaders to finalize the specifics of the plan.
This bailout could cost $500 billion. That amount, combined with all the other bailouts already committed by the Federal Reserve and Treasury in the form of loans and investments, like Bear Stearns and AIG, brings the total figure on governmental attempts to halt the credit crisis to $1.3 trillion.