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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Is the Banking Crisis Over


Is it possible that the actions of not just only President Obama but those of former President Bush have stemmed the tide of the banking crisis? Scanning the news today it was refreshing to see that Citigroup doesn’t think it will need anymore cash infusion from the government and is looking forward to running in the black from this point forward. Over at Reuters they have this to say from CEO Richard Parsons of Citigroup..

By John Poirier and Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc Chairman Richard Parsons said on Thursday that the bank does not need any more capital injections from the government and expressed confidence that Citi would remain in private hands.

Asked in an interview with Reuters whether Citigroup needed additional government capital injections, Parsons said: "No, I think actually, particularly with the latest conversion... Citi is actually one of the better capitalized banks in the world."
- Reuters

Then I look over at Bank of America and they are good to go too! They don’t need no stinking money either. Could this crisis be turning a corner where the big fish will now feed on all the little fish in the banking industry? Bloomberg is reporting that the bank has been profitable since the beginning of the year and has this report…

Bank of America Expects to Post Full-Year 2009 Profit
By Christopher Condon and Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam


March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank, expects to make money for the full year after posting a profit for January and February, Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis said.

“We have been profitable for the first two months of the year,” Lewis told reporters after a speech to the Boston College Chief Executives’ Club in Boston today. “We expect to be profitable” in 2009. In his speech, Lewis said the bank may earn $50 billion this year, measured before taxes and provisions, and the company won’t need more federal aid.
- Bloomberg

Word to the wise to those of you with some free cash to invest, you might want to look at both of these companies as part of your near future investments. Citi closed at $1.67 today and that price has nowhere to go but up in my honest opinion. Bank of America closed at $5.85 per share today. Or could it be that the strong arm of the Obama administration is scaring the pants off of the big banks with their hands out? Or could it be that they (big banks) don't want the endless gravy trough at the top to end with government intervention? I'm leaning towards a little of both, yes they can turn things around on their own and no they don't want the Federal Reserve telling them how much they can skim off the top in bonuses and mega salaries. Was there truly a banking crisis at all or was it a free for all at the taxpayers expense? Things that make you go hmmm…

One has to look at the stock market as a gambling den, so much money goes in and the same amount of money comes out. It is a matter of perspective of who lost and who won at the end of the day. If $500 bucks went into the poker game, then $500 bucks came out. It's all in who won the game that day or for that matter that year. Belly up to the bar boys and girls, Citigroup and Bank of America are back in play.

Papamoka

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is a matter of perspective of who lost and who won at the end of the day.

People do forget this. Everyone whinges at the collapse of the house-price bubble (I think of it as a counter-inflationary blessing), but for every person who gambled that house prices would go up for ever and ever and lost, there's someone who can now afford a house who wouldn't have been able to afford one at the old inflated prices.

7:44 AM  
Blogger Papamoka said...

So true Infidel, so true. My brother in law runs a meat department for a grocery store in MO and he was able to get his family into what used to be a $350,000 home for just over a hundred grand.

11:42 AM  

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