May 07 Watch Government ‘Stress Tests’ Find Big Banks Need $75 Billion The U.S. Treasury released stress tests of 19 major banks, finding that they collectively need another $75 billion by November. A financial reporter explains the results. Continue watching
May 07 What Is a Stress Test? Why Are They Being Done? Question: What are the stress tests? And why are they being done? Paul Solman: A stress tests is simply an analysis of a bank’s balance sheet. To determine what? Whether the bank is viable as a business. Or likely to… Continue reading
May 01 How Do We Regulate Credit Rating Agencies? Question: How do we supervise and regulate the credit rating agencies which, so poorly and perhaps illegally overrated so many derivatives? Paul Solman: I don’t know. One proposed reform has been that the investors pay the ratings agencies for… Continue reading
Apr 28 Watch Court Rules FCC May Pursue Fines for On-air Profanity The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the government could threaten broadcasters with fines over the use of even a single profanity on live television, yet stopped short of ruling whether the policy violates the Constitution. Marcia Coyle of the National… Continue watching
Apr 24 Watch IMF, World Bank Members Mull Third World Aid International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials are meeting in Washington to discuss international efforts to combat poverty and aid development in the face of the global financial crisis. Members talk about their concerns and ideas. Continue watching
Apr 22 Watch TARP Inspector Probes Bailout Fraud, Warns of Program’s Pitfalls Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general assigned to monitor the banking bailout, discusses his office's ongoing investigations into potential fraud in the TARP program and recent warnings on taxpayer risk. Continue watching
Apr 20 How Should We Interpret the String of Positive Earnings Reports from U.S. Banks? Question: After three major banks – Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs – announced better-than-expected earnings last week, Bank of America announced more than $4 billion in first-quarter profits today. How should we interpret this string of good earnings reports?… Continue reading
Apr 20 Bank of America Posts Better-Than-Expected Earnings By PBS News Hour Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, reported that its income in the first quarter of 2009 more than tripled to $4.2 billion. Continue reading
Apr 16 Watch Foreclosures Rise in New Sign of Housing Market Trouble New government numbers show that home foreclosures increased 24 percent in the first quarter of this year as compared to the first quarter of 2008 as a voluntary foreclosure moratorium ended on March 31. Analysts discuss the data and the… Continue watching
Apr 14 Watch After Infusion of Aid, Some Banks Return Bailout Funds As the government invests billions to shore up the financial sector, some banks are returning rescue funds earlier than expected. A banking chief and a reporter explain the latest. Continue watching