Merrill’s Level III Assets Jump by 68%

Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) reported today that their Level III assets - those that are the hardest to value - jumped to $68.9 billion from $41.4 billion reported at the end of 2007. An increase of this magnitude signals that the end of the financial crisis may not be as near as many have thought. Read more »

Yahoo’s Jerry Yang: Oops, My Bad

Yahoo! Inc. (NasdaqGS: YHOO) has seen better days. The same could be said for the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Yang, who is facing serious legal battles after a bid from Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT) was retracted. Mr. Yang has gone from Chief Executive Officer to Chief Damage Control Officer. Read more »

Morgan Stanley: Sell the Rally in Financials

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) advised clients on Monday to sell into the rally in financial stocks. Morgan analysts Betsy Graseck, Cheryl Pate and Justin Kwong anticipate further dividend cuts, increased dilutive equity offerings and the continued deterioration in the credit markets. Read more »

General Electric: Buy and Hold

General Electric (NYSE: GE), one of the largest and most respected companies in the world, has seen its shares drop nearly 24% from its 52-week high of $42. In April alone, shares dropped from $38 to $32, a 16% decline precipitated primarily by continued weakness in the financial markets. GE’s Q1 2008 earnings, announced on April 11^th, came in below both analyst and management expectations, missing the mark by nearly 14%. Read more »

Trinity Industries: Investing in Rail

Trinity Industries (NYSE: TRN) is an interesting little company in one of our favorite spaces: railroads. Trinity maintains, builds and leases rail cars to the likes of Burlington Northern, CSX, Norfolk Southern, as well as a host of other rail companies. Read more »

Libor Rises Unexpectedly: More Pain for Borrowers (and Lenders)

Between April 14th and April 18th, the Libor rate jumped sharply to 2.9%, up from 2.7%. This increase, which was unexpected, will “add billions of dollars to the interest bills of home-owners, companies and other borrowers around the world, ” according to the Wall Street Journal. Read more »

UBS - Activist Investor Begin Talks

UBS (NYSE: UBS), with shares down more than 50% in the past 52-weeks, has finally begun talks with activist investor, and former UBS chief executive, Luqman Arnold. Mr. Arnold, currently heading up Olivant Advisers Ltd., a London based investment firm, believes that significant changes to both the structure of UBS and the director mix are necessary to boost shareholder value. Read more »

Fannie Ex-Execs Settle

Several Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) former executives have settled with federal regulators over alleged violations of accounting rules dating back to 2004. Former chief executive officer Franklin Raines, former chief financial officer Timothy Howard, and former controller Leanne Spencer will be required to donate $3 million to charities aimed at helping homeowners keep their homes. Read more »

Doomsday ETF: Buffett’s Biotech Bet

According to a recent Yahoo! Finance TechTicker video and article, Warren Buffet and George Soros are making large bets in Healthcare and Biotech companies. Large stakes have been taken in Glaxosmithkline, Sanofi-Aventis, and Johnson & Johnson, to name a few. Read more »

GM Exec: “Global Warming is a Crock of S—”

General Motors’ Vice Chairman and Product Development Chief Bob Lutz recently let loose and said that he believes global warming is a “crock of s—.” That’s right, the person who is in charge of product development at GM - a company who is struggling to compete with Toyota for cleaner cars - essentially said that he does not believe that burning fossil fuels affects global warming. Read more »

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