Archive for May 1st, 2009

Friday Failures

We have a hat trick tonight. Here are the links. America West Bank, Layton, Utah Citizens Community Bank, Ridgewood, New Jersey Silverton Bank N.A., Atlanta, Georgia A couple things worth noting here. First, there was no buyer found for American West Bank. That’s the second bank to fail in Utah for which no buyer emerged. […]

The Hole In The New Appraisal Rules

In 1990 appraisers took a lot of blame for the S&L meltdown. A major tightening of licensing and oversight ensued. In 2008 appraisers again were blamed for many of the problems with the collapse of the residential mortgage market. Once again, new rules were instituted. Will it make any difference? According to Diana Olick at Realty […]

April Auto Sales

U.S. auto sales had another bad month. Overall, sales are still running at a yearly rate of around 9 million. Sales for April were likely to come in around 850,000. Here are the company results year-over-year:   Ford         Down 32% Toyota     Down 42% GM           […]

JPMorgan Chase Sees Strong Turn In The Economy

Having occupied the outer limbs of a very tall tree for some time with my prediction that the economy would turn in the second half, it was with great relief that I read this excerpt from a JPMorgan Chase report on Across the Curve. I would like to steal the whole thing from John but […]

UAW President Says Things Won’t Change With Chrysler Ownership

Second marriages are often described as the triumph of hope over experience. It’s already beginning to look as if the pundits optimism regarding the UAW’s majority ownership is likewise mostly hope. Here from Clusterstock is Joe Weisenthall’s take: “But a car company with significant UAW ownership is bound to be run much better than car […]