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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

U.S. Bancorp CEO: Credit Losses Spreading to Commercial Customers

by Calculated Risk on 7/15/2008 04:29:00 PM

A quote via Dow Jones (no link):

"[A]lthough the majority" [of credit deterioration] "was driven by residential real estate, home building and related industries, the economic slowdown and rising commodity prices have had an impact on some of our commercial customers. Given these conditions, we anticipate that our nonperforming assets will continue to rise."
U.S. Bancorp Chief Executive Richard Davis on conference call, July 15, 2008
This is obviously not a bank specific problem. M&T Bank's CEO made similar comments yesterday.

Which brings us to Bernanke's testimony today. From the WSJ Real Time Economics blog: Bernanke: About That Housing Crisis Being Contained ...
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may never be allowed to forget his onetime expectation about how the subprime housing mess would affect the broader economy.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), asking about the housing crisis during a Senate hearing Tuesday, cited Mr. Bernanke’s March 2007 comment that “the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained.”

Replied Mr. Bernanke wryly, invoking Capitol Hill terminology: “Of course, I would like to revise and extend my remarks.”