Articles About Banks

In terms of commercial property investment, one positive sign is from firms buying properties to use for their own business operations.  Called user-buyers, these investors have proven they are able to get money from banks to spend on property acquisitions — a relative rarity nowadays.  Those who do not need a loan already have earmarked their […]

America’s financial capital is now Washington, D.C. With Congress and the White House acting forcefully to stop the bleeding resulting from the worldwide financial crisis, numerous investors and brokers are relocating from New York to Washington because that’s where the action is these days. One of the nation’s healthiest metropolitan areas, Washington is benefiting from […]

It’s no surprise that investors are still wary of investing in derivatives, given the financial devastation that these vehicles’ collapse caused last year.  Proof of the fact is that the IPO of a financial instrument designed to be on American home prices failed because its auction did not generate adequate investor interest. According to its […]

Britain’s bailout of its ailing banks reflects a model that some critics characterize as nothing short of socialism, while the $750 billion bailout program in the United States is viewed as corporate welfare with very little oversight. Without supporting one or the other, following is a bare-bones comparison of the two programs: In the United Kingdom: […]

Inflation has returned with a vengeance, with a 1.1 percent increase reported during June – courtesy of soaring energy and food prices.  The Federal Reserve reacted to the warning signs on June 25, when it froze the Fed funds rate at two percent – ending nine months of rate cuts that it hoped would revive […]

Paulson’s TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) turnaround – he originally dismissed the bailout package as a recipe for “failure” -may demonstrate that his revised response is a gesture to public opinion.  At present, the bailout also seems geared more to help Main Street than Wall Street, a strategy that will play well with the general […]

Ben Bernanke has spoken.  The Fed chairman and the Federal Reserve moved recently to stimulate the economy when the policy-making committee cut the federal funds rate – the rate at which banks lend to each other – to just one percent.  This represents a half percentage point cut from the previous 1.5 percent rate.  By […]