Monday, July 21, 2008

Not as bad as thought sparks a small rally

Bank of America, now the biggest U.S. consumer bank and home lender, said second-quarter profit fell less than analysts estimated. BofA said net income declined 41% to $3.41 billion from $5.76 billion a year earlier. That beat estimates.

We still have Wachovia and WaMu earnings ahead of us this week, but four of the nation's five biggest banks have now reported better-than-estimated results, sparking a rally in financial shares.
These are some at risk institutions: Downey Financial, Corus Bankshares, Doral Financial, FirstFed of Santa Monica, Oriental Financial, BankUnited Financial, BFC Financial, First BanCorp, Flagstar Bancorp of Troy, Mich., Santander BanCorp of Puerto Rico, and Washington Mutual Inc. (WM) of Seattle. Read more at http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080721/REG/278316415

The 10-yr bond is up to 4.09%. We have $56 billion in Treasury supply this week (2-yr, 5-yr, and 20-yr Treasury Inflation Protected Securities), but the only data today is Leading Economic Indicators at 7AM PST, expected to show a decrease of 0.1%.

Tomorrow brings the July Richmond manufacturing index, the May house price index, and on Wednesday we'll see the Fed's beige book follow on Wednesday. Thursday brings both weekly initial unemployment claims and June existing home sales. Lastly, Friday brings June durable goods orders, the final-July US consumer confidence report, and June new home sales.

No comments:

Post a Comment