Word: quarters
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...replaced by former NYSE CEO John Thain. Thain made the error on more than one occasion of saying the worst was behind Merrill only to end up selling the company to Bank of America (BAC). Thain became enmeshed in the controversy over whether he properly disclosed Merrill's fourth quarter financial condition and if he was involved in paying Merrill executives bonuses that should not have been paid without Bank of America's consent. AIG (AIG) may be the example that best makes the case. As the company, which has been the world's premier insurance firm posted greater...
...question of the week. Just a few months after the near meltdown of the financial system, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs all reported billion-dollar-plus profits for the quarter ending March 31. Wells Fargo, which won't be releasing its earnings numbers until next week, preannounced on April 9 that it made about $3 billion - a record for the firm. (See pictures of the dangers of printing money...
...earnings were boosted by a $2.5 billion derivatives valuation adjustment "mainly due to the widening of Citi's CDS spreads." In somewhat dumbed-down but still utterly flummoxing language: credit-default swap (CDS) spreads represent the cost of insuring against Citi's default. That cost went up in the quarter as investors fretted about Citi's solvency, so Citi was able to book $2.5 billion in gains. Got that? Without that boost, Citi's $1.6 billion in quarterly profit would have been more than wiped out. As it was, holders of Citi's common stock still had to take...
...upshot is that, while the quarter was Citi's best since mid-2007, it's awfully hard to say what it signifies. The chances that the bank might eventually be able to earn its way out of its troubles without more taxpayer help seem to have increased. But it will take many more quarters before anybody can say that with confidence...
...initially mandating that House Masters cut their annual budgets by 15 percent earlier this semester—in line with trimming guidelines for most departments within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—Harvard’s administration is now forcing Houses to slash yearly budgets by a quarter...