Mike Caggeso
Article Index
Verisk and Santander Ignite Resurgent IPO Market
The global initial public offering (IPO) market is the hottest it's been in two years, underscored by a pair of IPOs that this week alone raised nearly $10 billion. In the United States, insurance risk manager Verisk Analytics Inc. pocketed $1.88 billion in its Tuesday IPO - the largest IPO take by a U.S. company […]
Boom, Bust and Rebuild: Bank of America and the Kenneth Lewis Legacy
There are many ways to view Kenneth Lewis' eight-year reign as Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) chief executive, but two seem to hold the most landscape. On one hand, the $130 billion he spent on acquisitions - FleetBoston Financial Corp., MBNA Corp., LaSalle Bank Corp., Countrywide Financial Corp., Charles Schwab Corp.'s (Nasdaq: SCHW) U.S. […]
Job Losses Push Mortgage Delinquencies and Foreclosures to New Records
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning Mounting job losses have pushed mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures to new records in the first quarter. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the U.S. delinquency rate increased to a seasonally adjusted 9.12%. Meanwhile, the share of loans entering foreclosure rose to 1.37%. Both are the highest figures […]
Business Economists Predict Recession Will End in Third Quarter
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning A detailed report from the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) says the U.S. economy will recover in the third quarter after a continued contraction in the second. NABE said the near-term setback will be a result of a "sharp retrenchment" in business investment, but the billions in […]
First Quarter Housing Prices Fall at Record Pace, Buyers Still on Sidelines
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning Home prices continued their two-year decline in March, with prices down 18.7% for the month compared to last year, and a record 19.1% decline for the first quarter compared with the first quarter last year. All 20 metro areas measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed annual […]
As India Inflation Nears 30-Year Low, Policymakers are Priming Third Stimulus
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning India's annual inflation clocked in at a shockingly low 0.61% in the week ended May 9, and 0.48% the week prior, opening a window for policymakers to resuscitate the economy without worrying about consumer unrest. Inflation in India - a rampant problem for years - is hovering near […]
Treasury Selling as Much as $1 Trillion in Bank Assets With Fed and FDIC
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning The U.S. Treasury Department's is pressing the go button on its Public-Private Investment Program and re-expanding the $1 trillion Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said to the Senate Banking Committee that he expects the programs to start by early July, Bloomberg reported. "Working […]
Looking For the Next Global Profit Play? Take a Look at These Emerging Market ETFs
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning Like most investors, Harvard University's billion-dollar endowment fund took a beating during the global financial crisis. Many investors cashed out, opting for the safety of the sidelines. But Harvard called a new play. During the first quarter, Harvard engineered a dramatic shift in its endowment-fund investment strategy - […]
U.S. Housing Starts and Permits Revisit Record Lows in April
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly plummeted to record lows in April, torpedoing hopes of a housing market recovery as well as hopes the overall economy is regaining traction. Starts for privately owned homes clocked in at a 458,000 annual rate, a 12.8% decline from March's revised rate […]
Small Cap Stocks are Proven Post-Recession Profit Machines
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning Right now many investors probably don’t want to shoot for the moon. The global financial crisis gave their portfolios one the fiercest beat downs since the Great Depression, draining investors’ resources and mood for anything but safe investments. But it’s unfair to associate small-cap investing as moon shooting, […]
BB&T, Capital One, U.S. Bancorp and KeyCorp Planning Stock Sales to Raise Capital, Repay TARP
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning One business day removed from the government's bank stress tests, four of the largest U.S. banks - BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) - announced plans to raise capital through stock offerings. BB&T said it plans […]
Eager to Spend and Expand, PetroChina Raising $22 Billion in Bonds
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning PetroChina Co. Ltd. (ADR: PTR) said it hopes to raise as much as $22 billion (150 billion yuan) to fuel its expansion plans and pay its dividend. The world's second-largest company - which raised 50 billion yuan in the first quarter though bond issues and bank borrowing - […]
Motivations Abound for Federal Reserve's Delayed Release of Bank Stress Test Results
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning The results of the bank stress tests are in, but instead of releasing them today (Monday), the U.S. Federal Reserve is holding them close to its chest until after the markets close Thursday. The amount of information awaiting disclosure seems to have grown, as have the reasons to […]
Bank of America Shareholders Strip Lewis of Chairman Role
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning Bank of America Corp. (BAC) shareholders cast 50.34% of their votes in favor of stripping Kenneth Lewis of his chairman title. The historic vote was cast at the BofA's annual shareholders' meeting for a resolution to change company by-laws so that the offices of chairman and chief executive […]
GM, Chrysler Make More Dramatic Cuts to Stave off Bankruptcy
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning Faced with pending deadlines to restructure or resort to bankruptcy, General Motors Corp. (GM) and Chrysler LLC each made a series of dramatic moves to trim fat, reduce debt and improve efficiency. GM's cost-cutting measures are perhaps its most encompassing since the company began its turnaround process. Among […]