by Calculated Risk on 3/28/2009 11:44:00 AM

By popular request, here is a graph comparing four significant bear markets: the Dow during the Great Depression, the NASDAQ, the Nikkei, and the current S&P 500.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph is from Doug Short of dshort.com (financial planner):

"The Mega-Bear Quartet and L-Shaped Recoveries".

Note: updated today.

by Calculated Risk on 3/28/2009 09:54:00 AM

From the LA Times: FDIC orders changes at six California banks

[T]he Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. disclosed Friday that it had ordered six more California banks to clean up their acts in February after the agency examined their books and operations.
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The number of such regulatory actions has been increasing rapidly.
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By the end of 2009, two-thirds of the state's banks will be operating under cease-and-desist orders or other regulatory actions, Anaheim-based banking consultant Gary S. Findley predicts.
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Most banks targeted in such actions eventually tighten up operations and continue in business or merge with stronger institutions, but regulators are preparing for a major wave of failures.
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In addition to public cease-and-desist orders, banks are subject to a variety of regulatory sanctions, including so-called memorandums of understanding, which are informal directives to correct problems. Regulators don't release those memos, but banks sometimes disclose them to shareholders.

So far 21 FDIC insured banks have failed this year, and 3 in California. There will probably be many more ...

by Calculated Risk on 3/27/2009 10:18:00 PM

From the NY Times: U.S. Expected to Give More Financing to Automakers

The Obama administration will probably extend more short-term aid to General Motors and Chrysler on Monday ...

The administration is expected to set a short deadline — weeks rather than months — to compel the automakers, their lenders and the U.A.W. to reach agreement.

Both G.M. and Chrysler are close to exhausting the loans they received since December. ...

G.M.’s request for up to $16.6 billion more in federal loans will be treated separately from Chrysler’s request for an additional $5 billion ...

The announcement on Monday will usher in a more intensive period of oversight by the government of G.M. and Chrysler ...

Another week, another bailout.

by Calculated Risk on 3/27/2009 07:20:00 PM

Just some quick words of advice from Jon Stewart (Dec 13, 2000): (ht Martin)

by Calculated Risk on 3/27/2009 05:17:00 PM

Update: from Soylent Green Is People

Bright, warm Spring Friday...
Bank failures blight like crab grass...
Spray Round-Up on all....
From the FDIC: SunTrust Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, Receives the Insured Deposits of Omni National Bank, Atlanta, Georgia

Omni National Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which then appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.
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As of March 9, 2009, Omni National Bank had total assets of $956.0 million and total deposits of $796.8 million. At the time of closing, there were approximately $2.0 million in uninsured deposits that potentially exceeded the insurance limits. ...
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The cost to the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund is estimated to be $290 million. Omni National Bank is the twenty-first bank to fail this year. The last bank failure in Georgia was FirstCity Bank, Stockbridge, on March 20, 2009.

This is the follow-up to the earlier post.