by Calculated Risk on 3/20/2009 12:52:00 PM

From the LA Times: California unemployment hits 10.5% in February

California's unemployment rate rose for the 11th straight month in February, hitting 10.5% as a recession-wracked economy shed 116,000 jobs across all professions and industries, the state reported today.

The number is up from 10.1% in January and is the highest since April 1983.

The unemployment rate in California peaked at 11% in the early '80s.

Here is the EDD report. Construction employment is off 18.5% from Feb '08 to Feb '09. This is over 155,000 construction jobs lost in California alone over the last 12 months.

by Calculated Risk on 3/20/2009 11:30:00 AM

UPDATE: Here is the transcript of Bernanke's speech.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak at Noon ET on "The Financial Crisis and Community Banking", at the Independent Community Bankers of America’s convention in Phoenix, AZ.

I expect CNBC to cover this ...

Here is the CNBC feed.

by Calculated Risk on 3/20/2009 11:12:00 AM

In addition to watching for bank failures this afternoon, the 2nd largest mall owner in the U.S. - General Growth Properties - is facing a significant deadline:

From the WSJ: General Growth Shakes Up Executive Ranks

[General Growth's] most critical deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, when it hopes the majority of its bondholders will have agreed to refrain from demanding payment this year on $2.25 billion in bonds. If that effort fails, General Growth says it might need to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Yesterday: Moody's Cuts General Growth To Last Pre-Default Level

Moody's Investors Service lowered its ratings on debt-laden mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. (GGP) and some of its subsidiaries to C, the last stop before default, after the company let a $395 million bond payment pass without a payment earlier this week.
...
On Wednesday, Standard and Poor's Ratings Services lowered its credit ratings on the company to default on the missed bond payment.

by Calculated Risk on 3/20/2009 09:03:00 AM

From HotelNewsNow.com: STR reports U.S. hotel data for week ending 14 March

The U.S. hotel industry posted declines in three key performance measurements during the week of 8-14 March 2009, according to data from STR..

In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy fell 15.7 percent to end the week at 55.2 percent. Average daily rate dropped 11.2 percent to finish the week at US$99.60. Revenue per available room for the week decreased 25.1 percent to finish at US$55.02.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the YoY change in the occupancy rate (3 week centered average).

The three week average is off 14.4% from the same period in 2008.

Note that the average daily rate dropped significantly too, so RevPAR (Revenue per available room) is off 25.1% from last year.

Data Source: Smith Travel Research, Courtesy of HotelNewsNow.com

by Calculated Risk on 3/20/2009 01:45:00 AM

From the FDIC: FDIC Closes Sale of Indymac Federal Bank, Pasadena, California

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has completed the sale of IndyMac Federal Bank FSB, Pasadena, California, to OneWest Bank, FSB, a newly formed Pasadena, California-based federal savings ...

IndyMac Federal sustained losses of $2.6 billion in the fourth quarter 2008 due to deterioration in the real estate market. The total estimated loss to the Deposit Insurance Fund is $10.7 billion.

The original loss estimate was $4 to $8 billion, and that estimate was later increased to $8.9 billion. Now it is $10.7 billion.

Ouch.