Thursday, April 30, 2009

Stress test results on Banks delayed! UPDATE

News just out tonight. A small excerpt of the story follows:

"U.S. Bank Test Results Delayed as Conclusions Debated

By Craig Torres and Robert Schmidt

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve will postpone the release of stress tests on the biggest U.S. banks while executives debate preliminary findings with examiners, according to government and industry officials.

The results, originally scheduled for publication on May 4, now may not be revealed until toward the end of next week, said the people, who declined to be identified. A new release date may be announced as soon as tomorrow, they said.

Regulators and bank executives are concerned about how the disclosure is handled because weaker institutions could suffer a collapse in their stock prices."


The impact on this news on the Bank Indexes of the stock market are unknown at this time. However it may be very good news for those like myself holding the ETF Short of the Financials, a triple play, symbol FAZ. Since this ETF shorts the Financials it may get a real boost tomorrow as some bank big stops drop. The market does not like uncertainty. If they wait a whole month to release the results this is not very good for banks and shareholders. Remember, the idea of the stress tests, according to Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, was to bring confidence to the markets and specifically the banks. FAZ closed today at $8.31/share and I purchased it last week at $8.50/share. The market may also shrug off the news and banks could rally as it delays any news. Let's see the market's reaction tomorrow, May 1st. Many markets abroad will be closed tomorrow, as it is May Day.

UPDATE: May 1st 8:20am PST

Here's the latest news on this from Bloomberg News:

Regulators Said to Plan Stress-Test Disclosures on May 7

By Craig Torres

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve and U.S. banking regulators will reveal the results of the tests on the country’s 19 largest banks on May 7 after financial markets close, according to a government official.

The government will unveil both aggregate information and firm-specific details about the capital buffer required to absorb losses if the recession worsens, the official said on condition of anonymity.

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