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July 14, 2008
Treasury Acts to Shore Up Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac
Alarmed by the sharply eroding confidence in the nation's two largest
mortgage finance companies, the Bush administration yesterday asked
Congress to approve a sweeping rescue package that would give officials
the power to inject billions of federal dollars into the beleaguered
companies through investments and loans, the New York
Times reported today. In a separate announcement, the Federal
Reserve said that it would make one of its short-term lending programs
available to the two companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Fed said
that it had made its decision “to promote the availability of home
mortgage credit during a period of stress in financial markets.”
An official said that the Fed's decision to permit the companies to
borrow from its 'discount window' was approved at the request of the
Treasury but that it was temporary and would probably end once Congress
approved Treasury's plan.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/washington/14fannie.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1216037084-MejIvyskex8phW2Mzekkjw&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Fear of Bank Failures Spread after
Government Seizure of IndyMac
The federal government's seizure of IndyMac Bank is deepening worries
among executives, regulators and consumers about the U.S. banking
industry, which is in a tightening bind following a long run of
prosperity, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Federal
Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) will bear the bulk of the financial
burden of IndyMac's failure, predicting that its collapse will cost the
deposit-insurance fund between $4 billion and $8 billion, possibly
making it the costliest bank failure ever. If an expected surge in bank
failures materializes, other financial institutions, which pay
assessments to the FDIC to capitalize the fund, may be forced to provide
the agency with more money. Banks and thrifts are struggling against a
rising tide of bad loans, and it is becoming increasingly clear that
some lenders won't be able to escape. While fewer banks are expected to
fail than the 834 that went under from 1990-92, it will likely take
several years for battered financial institutions to work through their
bad loans and replenish their depleted capital.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121599581234249669.html'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Housing-Assistance Bill Passes Senate,
Faces More Hill Negotiations
The Senate on Friday approved a package of legislation aimed
at stabilizing the nation's faltering housing market, including an
ambitious plan to extend a financial lifeline to hundreds of thousands
of homeowners at risk of foreclosure, the Washington Post
reported on Saturday. The legislation passed 63 - 5 as it now heads back
to the House of Representatives for consideration. The House approved a
version of the legislation with bipartisan support in June. But House
Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) wants to
make additional changes, forcing both chambers to vote on the bill again
before sending it to the White House. The centerpiece of the legislation
would authorize the Federal Housing Administration to help 400,000
distressed borrowers trade exotic loans that have rapidly rising monthly
payments for more affordable loans backed by the federal government. The
FHA would insure the new loans if the current lenders agree to forgive a
portion of each homeowner's debt. The package includes a plan to
modernize the FHA and create a strong new regulator for struggling
mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a move supporters say would
shore up confidence in the companies. There are also $14.5 billion in
tax breaks, including a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home
buyers. Additionally, the bill would provide $3.9 billion in emergency
funds for local governments to purchase vacant, foreclosed
properties.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071100423_pf.html'>Read
more.
New Rules Loom for Bond-Rating
Firms
Legislation likely to be introduced today in the House of
Representatives could place rules on bond-rating firms' products that
are similar to those already in place for stock and derivatives
exchanges, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The proposed
legislation by Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) and Mike Castle (R-Del.)
would give the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) authority to
stop bond-rating firms from unilaterally putting triple-A marks on new
structured-finance products. Instead, regulators would have to approve
certain new products, with the SEC required to base decisions on the
product's structure and underlying assets. The requirements would apply
to structured bonds backed by assets such as consumer mortgages, car
payments and tuition bills, as well as newer, more-complex products that
have been hit even harder recently.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121600261036250101.html'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
ATA Airlines Files for Chapter 11
Extension
Grounded carrier ATA Airlines has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for
the Southern District of Indiana for more time to file its chapter 11
plan, citing unexpected complexities including five lawsuits filed by
employees and unions, Bankruptcy Law360 reported on Friday. ATA
on Thursday asked for a 210-day extension to Feb. 26, 2009, to file a
plan to liquidate its assets. The budget airline argues that the labor
matters - set for trial in February - warrant this relatively long
extension.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=62014'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
New U.S. Trustee Appointed for Region
9
Daniel M. McDermott has been appointed by the Attorney General as the
U.S. Trustee for Ohio and Michigan (Region 9), according to a press
release Friday by the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees. McDermott was
appointed as the Assistant U.S. Trustee in the Program's Cleveland
office in 1991, after serving three years as a trial attorney in that
office. McDermott has also held positions as a bankruptcy administrator
for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio and as a
bank officer and assistant counsel. McDermott received his law degree
from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, and his
undergraduate degree from Villanova University in Villanova, Pa.
Retailer's Collapse Hits Mall
Owners
Mall owners will especially feel the financial loss caused by the
bankruptcy filing of discount-clothing chain Steve & Barry's last
week, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Desperate to fill
empty department-store spaces, mall owners previously courted the
retailer with generous payments to outfit its cavernous stores. Those
checks, rather than retail profits, fueled the company's runaway growth,
and when the payments slowed, Steve & Barry's collapsed. Dozens of
malls around the country stand to lose a big anchor tenant -- a blow to
commercial landlords already reeling from weak consumer spending and a
string of bad news from retailers. Sharper Image Corp. and Bombay Co.,
for example, have closed all their stores, while Talbots Inc. and
AnnTaylor Stores Corp. are paring back. Vacancies at malls in 76 major
U.S. markets rose to 6.3 percent in the second quarter, the highest
level since early 2002, according to real estate research firm Reis
Inc.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121599986960249953.html'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
SEC to Probe False Rumors about
Market
The Securities and Exchange Commission, under fire for not responding
more vigorously to a raft of rumors that have pounded stock prices, said
that it is cracking down on firms or individuals that illegally spread
false rumors, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The need
for such a move by the SEC took on new urgency after a brutal week in
the U.S. stock market, where major financial firms such as Lehman
Brothers Holdings Inc., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were battered as
rumors about everything from government bailouts to possible mergers
flew across Wall Street. Meanwhile, executives at Lehman Brothers, whose
shares fell nearly 17 percent on Friday alone, were working on a plan to
put the firm on more solid footing and stop the free-fall in the
company's stock. Lehman is examining a handful of options, including a
strategic alliance with a partner that it hopes will help restore
investor confidence, an asset sale or possibly some sort of stock
buyback.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121599785046349851.html'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Adelphia Founder's Charges
Upheld
A federal judge has refused to dismiss charges of conspiracy and tax
evasion against the imprisoned founder of Adelphia Communications Corp.
and his son, ruling the charges do not amount to double jeopardy, the
Associated Press reported today. The charges that Adelphia's founder,
John J. Rigas, and his son, Timothy, faced in Pennsylvania are separate
from the fraud charges on which they were prosecuted in New York,
Federal District Court Judge John E. Jones III ruled on Friday. John
Rigas is serving 12 years in prison and Timothy Rigas, once Adelphia's
chief financial officer, is serving 17 years after their 2004 New York
convictions on charges including conspiracy, bank fraud and securities
fraud.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/us/13adelphia.html?sq=bankruptcy&st=cse&scp=8&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Commentary: Bankruptcy Would be
Risky for Automakers
Most debt analysts say that unlike auto parts suppliers, which have used
bankruptcy as a tool to reorganize their businesses, automakers are
unlikely to consider filing for bankruptcy before exhausting every other
option, according to a commentary in the Detroit News today.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and privately held Chrysler LLC are
going through cash at a faster rate than they generate it, and investors
worry that one or more of the companies could run short, perhaps before
the end of next year. The biggest risk would be the publicity
surrounding a bankruptcy filing that might scare off car buyers. It's
also not clear that a bankruptcy filing would make it easier for the
manufacturers to get more concessions from the United Auto Workers than
they already have, or to break out of agreements with dealers that are
governed by state law.
href='http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080714/AUTO01/807140376'>Read
more.