Which bank will follow in the footsteps of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and be the next to exit the government’s bank rescue program? Citigroup (NYSE: C) is an unlikely candidate where taxpayers own a 34% stake that the Treasury Department doesn’t want to sell until it’s sure the company won’t need to raise more capital. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is in a similar situation after accepting $25 billion in assistance, over half of the $45 billion Citi and Bank of America each received. Instead, you may want to look into Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), the bank that took $3.4 billion to strengthen its battered balance sheet last year. The company would likely only need to raise an additional $1 billion, less than many other banks that took bailout funds and were subject to "stress tests" in the spring. Coming up with the money should be a lot easier and cheaper for the bank now as opposed to earlier this year. Its stock has risen from $1.03 per share on Feb. 20th, to $10.47 in midday trading yesterday, representing a 725% gain. –Daily Finance
McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) stated today that its November same store sales, or sales at restaurants in operations for at least 13 months, increased 0.7%. Sales dipped 0.6% domestically, rose 2.5% in Europe and experienced a pullback of 1% in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The company also disclosed that it expects to record an 8 cent benefit in the fourth quarter related to resolving specific liabilities. -MarketWatch
President Barack Obama will propose upgrading infrastructure, promoting home-energy efficiency and aiding small businesses as ways to spur job growth. The initiatives, which Obama will discuss today at 11:15 a.m. follow a jobs forum he hosted at the White House a week earlier on how to bring back the more than 7.2 million jobs that have been lost since the start of the recession. “Having finally moved into positive territory when it comes to economic growth, our biggest challenge now is making sure that job growth matches up with economic growth,” Obama told reporters at the White House yesterday. Among the initiatives the president will discuss are steps to help small businesses grow and hire new staff, modernizing roads, railways, bridges and tunnels, airports and seaports and a new program to provide rebates for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient. -Bloomberg
Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded the credit worthiness of a raft of Dubai government-controlled companies, citing a lack of government support over the emirate’s debt obligations. Moody’s downgraded its issuer ratings for DP World, Dubai and Water Authority, Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group, Emaar Properties and DIFC Investments. All remain on review for further downgrade, the agency said in an emailed statement. –The Wall Street Journal
In other news, Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) started as outperform at Bernstein, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) started as buy at Needham and Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) Raised to Buy at Citigroup. 24/7 Wall St.
Loading ...
