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February 3, 2009
January Consumer Bankruptcy
Filings Increase 34 Percent over Last Year
U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings increased 34.4
percent nationwide in January from the same period a year ago, according
to the ABI, relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research
Center. The overall January consumer filing total of 88,773 represented
a slight increase from the December total of 84,926.
size='3'>Chapter 13 filings constituted 32.8 percent of all consumer
cases in January, a slight increase from December. “U.S.
households are under great financial stress today; for many, bankruptcy
seems to be their best option,” said ABI Executive Director
size='3'>Samuel J. Gerdano. “We
expect more than 1.4 million new cases filed in
2009.”
href='http://www.abiworld.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Monthly_Bankruptcy_Statistics&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=3716&ContentID=46994&DirectListComboInd=D'>Click
here to view the January filing graphs.
Consumer Spending Continues
to Drop
The U.S. Commerce department reported that consumers
in December scaled back on spending for the sixth month in a row while
the savings rate increased, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Washington Post
size='3'>reported today. As the economy spiraled downward at the end of
2008 and contracted at the fastest pace in more than 20 years, consumers
retreated, spending $102.4 billion, or 1 percent, less than the month
before, Commerce Department data issued yesterday showed. The savings
rate rose to 3.6 percent from 2.8 percent. Consumers decided to hang
onto more of their money even though disposable income rose slightly
when adjusted for inflation. It increased by 0.3 percent, compared with
0.8 percent in November, suggesting that the impact of falling gasoline
prices, which left more cash in consumers' wallets last fall, is
fading.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR2009020203161_pf.html'>Read
more.
Despite Federal Aid, Many
Banks Fail to Revive Lending
While the federal government has invested almost $200
billion in U.S. banks over the last three months to spark new lending to
consumers and businesses, lending has declined, and banks that got
government money on average have reduced lending more sharply than banks
that did not, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Washington Post
size='3'>reported today. The volume of loans outstanding from U.S. banks
fell about 1 percent during the last three months of the year, according
to Federal Reserve data. The decline was more than twice as large among
banks that accepted taxpayer funds, according to an analysis of
fourth-quarter financial reports from 115 companies. The Fed reported
yesterday that most banks have continued tightening lending
standards.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR2009020203338_pf.html'>Read
more.
Legislation Introduced to
Require Hedge Fund Registration
Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.) introduced legislation
yesterday that would require hedge fund managers to register with the
SEC,
size='3'>CongressDaily reported today. The
bill also would require pension plan sponsors to disclose their
investments in hedge funds, and would give the Labor Department
authority to ensure that plan sponsors are meeting fiduciary duties. The
SEC issued a rule in 2004 requiring such registration, but that decision
was overturned by a federal appeals court. The Castle bill does not go
as far as a version by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Charles Grassley
(R-Iowa) that would require registration and disclosure of a fund's
investors and ownership structure, a provision strongly opposed by
industry.
House Financial Services
Committee Hearing to Examine Improvement of Bank
Liquidity
The House Financial Services committee will hold a
two-day hearing beginning today examining how to improve liquidity in
the national banking system. The hearing will take place at 2 p.m. ET in
Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
href='http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr020309.shtml'>Click
here to review the witness list and watch a live Webcast of the
hearing.
Autos
Car Parts Maker Contech
Files for Chapter 11
Contech LLC filed for chapter 11 protection on Friday
citing its lenders' effective seizure of its operating cash spurring
more than $5 million in bad checks,
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360
size='3'>reported yesterday. The Portage, Mich.-based company listed
liabilities of $100 million to $500 million and assets in the same
range. In its first-day motions, Contech said that the immediate cause
of its bankruptcy occurred on Jan. 13, 2009, when a syndicate of lenders
to which it owed more than $100 million “effectively seized the
debtor's cash.” Contech was unable to pay out over $5 million in
checks it had already issued, according to the motions. The lenders
agreed to allow the company to pay its employees on Jan. 23, the
first-day motions said, but the lack of cash and inability to purchase
supplies rapidly slowed operations and necessitated bankruptcy. The case
is
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>In re Contech US LLC
size='3'>, case number 09-42392, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Eastern District of Michigan.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/print_article/85590'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
GM, Chrysler Offer New
Buyouts
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, under pressure
to comply with viability requirements set by the Treasury Department,
plan to unveil attrition programs at U.S. plants as early as this week
in order to trim labor costs further, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Wall Street Journal
size='3'>reported today. United Auto Workers officials at GM have
received details of the plans, which include worker buyouts, but the
auto maker hasn't yet disclosed specifics publicly. GM and Chrysler,
recipients of federal loans to help them survive a severe slump in auto
sales, must submit plans to the government by Feb. 17 on how they intend
to get back on track. Cutting hourly labor costs represents a
substantial portion of what is expected to be included in those
plans.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123360860803740681.html'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
Takes a Pragmatic Approach
Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne said that he has
no grand visions for his company’s plan to take a 35 percent stake
in Chrysler, as he approaches the prospective deal with a blunt
assessment of its prospects, the
size='3'>New York Times reported today. The
last two times Chrysler was sold — to Daimler-Benz in 1998 and to
Cerberus Capital Management in 2007 — its new owners promised
nothing less than a remarkable renaissance for the smallest of
Detroit’s Big Three. Chrysler has received $4 billion in
government loans, and is counting on getting an additional $3 billion by
April to stay in business. In exchange for a 35 percent stake, Fiat will
let Chrysler build small cars using a number of its so that Chrysler can
broaden its lineup beyond large pickups, SUV’s and minivans. The
deal will also allow Fiat to re-enter the American market, from which it
withdrew in 1984, and to eventually build Fiat and Chrysler models
together on assembly lines in the United States and Europe.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/business/03fiat.html?_r=1&ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Lehman Examiner Seeks More
Latitude in Probe
The examiner appointed to look into the Lehman
Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy case is seeking broad authority to
issue subpoenas as he continues to look into the events and people
surrounding the financial giant's collapse into bankruptcy,
Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday. Anthony Valukas, who was
appointed examiner on Jan. 20, recently began his probe into the
movement of funds between what was once the country's fourth-largest
investment bank and its subsidiaries in the days after its collapse. In
the motion, Valukas asked that the subpoena process be streamlined,
including setting deadlines for witnesses to cough up the responsive
documents and establishing procedures for restricting access to
privileged documents. The bankruptcy case is
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>In re Lehman Brothers Holdings
Inc., case number 08-13555, in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/articles/85466'>Read more.
(Subscription required.)
Renew Energy, Ethanol
Producer, Files for Bankruptcy
Renew Energy LLC, the closely held ethanol producer
based in Jefferson, Wis., filed for bankruptcy and plans to sell itself
amid falling prices for the grain-based fuel and rising costs for corn,
Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The 6-year-old company listed both
assets and debt of more than $100 million in its chapter
11 filing on Jan. 30. The company, which last year had revenue of
$184.2 million, sought court approval of a $2.5 million emergency loan
from West Pointe Bank to replenish its dwindling corn supply, court
papers show.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aluHJV95OEAU'>Read
more.
Policy Makers Weigh Fed
Oversight of Derivatives
Policy makers intent on quickly revamping the U.S.
financial-regulatory system say that they are discussing expanding the
Federal Reserve's authority and extending oversight to currently
unregulated products such as derivatives, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Wall Street Journal
size='3'>reported today. President Barack Obama will meet with
bipartisan congressional leaders later this week to discuss a
'significant reregulation that needs to happen to ensure that the
irresponsibilities that caused where we are now don't happen again,'
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Lawmakers have been talking
about revamping the regulatory structure since the credit crisis erupted
last year, but the effort is gaining steam as the Obama administration
gears up to implement its financial-rescue plan and find ways to prevent
a repeat of current problems. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is
among those pushing for more transparency and increased regulation of
complex financial products, such as credit-default swaps. While plans
are still in their early stages, policy makers want to have something in
place by the end of March, lawmakers said.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123362245289541749.html'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
Turn Sights to Banks
Investors who said they lost money to Bernard Madoff
are taking aim at the big banks that played administrative roles in
their investments, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Wall Street Journal
size='3'>reported today. HSBC Holdings PLC, UBS AG, J.P. Morgan Chase
& Co. and other financial middlemen are facing lawsuits from clients
of Madoff who are trying to recover funds in the alleged Ponzi scheme.
In a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Florida, HSBC was accused of a 'lack of scrutiny' that
'falls far short of the legal duties owed and representations made.'
HSBC was a custodian bank for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities
LLC.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123362103067641611.html'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
Sirius Faces Debt Payment
in Test of Its Viability
Sirius XM Satellite Radio Inc. is facing an important
test of its viability this month as it looks to handle $174.6 million in
debt coming due Feb. 17, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Wall Street Journal
size='3'>reported yesterday. Questions over how the company can pay it,
along with $750 million more in debt due later in the year, have been
dogging the company's stock price for months. However, even if the
company solves its looming debt deadlines, it will have merely bought
time to prove to the investment community that its business of paid
subscription radio has legs. Also, the high-interest solutions it seems
likely to find would transfer more of the company's value to debtholders
and away from stockholders.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123353783687837945.html'>Read
more. (Subscription required.)
Eric Holder Confirmed As
Attorney General
Despite some Republican opposition, the Senate yesterday confirmed
(75-21) Eric Holder as attorney general, CongressDaily
reported today. Republicans slowed Holder's nomination in the Judiciary
Committee and briefly on the Senate floor due to concerns about his role
in controversial pardons during the Clinton administration and about
whether Holder would push prosecution of intelligence officials. Holder
is a former U.S. attorney and deputy attorney general.
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