Peridot Capitalist

There has been a lot of talk lately about the repeal of Glass-Steagal in the 1990’s and the potential that such a move contributed greatly to the financial crisis. Glass-Steagal, originally passed in 1933, had many parts to it but it is most widely known to have disallowed commercial banks that gathered customer deposits and [...]

The core difference between the Bush and Obama administrations in terms of how they doled out government bailout funds was what, if any, terms came with getting the money. Former Treasury Secretary Paulson gave out the first half of TARP funds with no strings attached. Secretary Geithner, conversely, wanted to make sure the government funding [...]

A disturbing recent trend has emerged in the U.S. equity market and many are pointing to it as a potential reason to worry that the massive market rally over the last six months may be running out of steam. Investment strategists are concerned that a recent rise in speculative trading activity is signaling that the [...]

My frequency of posting has diminished here lately, mainly due to the fact that not much interesting seems to be happening (at least from my perspective). I always err on the side of posting less rather than writing just for the sake of doing so without having much to say.
Stocks are rising smartly today after [...]

An interesting story of how even those who follow the financial system intimately on a daily basis can get pulled into the mess.
From the 5/14 edition of the New York Times: My Personal Credit Crisis by Edmund Andrews

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As my clients know well, I am a contrarian when it comes to investing in the market. To me, buying a stock is no different than shopping for a new house, car, or wardrobe at the mall. You get your best deals when you are either buying things other people don’t want (store sale racks, [...]

All we’ve heard about this week has been the stress tests, so I figured I would summarize the important aspects for everyone. Hear is what you need to know if you are following the large cap U.S. financial sector.
Capital Ratio Requirements: Banks must have enough capital to maintain the following ratios:
*Tier 1 Capital of 6.0%
*Tangible [...]

One of the biggest concerns from conservatives since President Obama’s election has been the possibility of new, overly burdensome government regulation on various aspects of the economy and financial markets. While this should be a real concern, it is unfair to assume new regulations will be over-the-top before any of them are actually drawn up, [...]

Some people are worried that President Obama is going to try and run the banks and credit card issuers but how about this little tidbit from the Wall Street Journal:
Then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson threatened to remove Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis and the bank’s board of directors if the bank backed [...]

No wonder the market is up huge today. Before the bell, Wells Fargo (WFC) announced that it would earn a profit of $3 billion in the first quarter, making it the best quarter in the company’s history. Even more impressive, that result includes $372 million in TARP preferred dividends paid back to the government.
Some numbers [...]