Seeking Alpha (February 13)
“Bank of America argued Monday that international stocks offer a potential opportunity of outperformance compared to U.S. equities. However, the firm added that investors need to remain ‘choosy’ when selecting positions.” For example, Bank of America favors “regions with the greatest structural advantages, such as strong demographics, energy independence, and high productivity.”
Tags: Bank of America, Choosy, Demographics, Energy independence, International stocks, Investors, Opportunity, Outperformance, Potential, Productivity, Structural advantages, U.S. equities
Investment Week (August 23)
In early August, the Bank of England predicted “increased gas prices would cause inflation to rise above 13% by the end of the year.” The consensus is worse. “Goldman Sachs and EY forecast UK consumer price inflation would reach 15%, and Bank of America projected it would peak at 14% in January.” Citi bank has gone further and “riled markets” by forecasting “UK CPI to hit 18.6% in January… beating the 1979 peak when CPI hit 17.8% following the OPEC oil shock.” A recession looks all but inevitable.
Tags: Bank of America, BOE, Citi bank, Consensus, CPI, EY, Forecast, Gas prices, Goldman Sachs, Inflation, Markets, Oil shock, OPEC, Peak, Recession, UK
Barron’s (March 7)
“Today, in response to a campaign by sustainable investors Arjuna Capital and Walden Asset Management, American Express (AXP) became the seventh financial-services company since Jan. 15 to agree to take steps to publish and close the pay gap between male and female employees. The others are Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), Mastercard (MA), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).”
Tags: American Express, Arjuna Capital, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Campaign, Citigroup, Financial services, JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard, Pay gap, Sustainable investors, Walden Asset Management, Wells Fargo
Wall Street Journal (October 7)
“Billionaire Warren Buffett tossed lifelines to a handful of blue-chip companies during the financial crisis. Five years later the payoff on those deals is becoming clear: $10 billion and counting.” In terms of income before taxes, the investments to companies like Bank of America, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Goldman Sachs and Mars, have yielded Berkshire approximately 40%. Berkshire received an attractive premium, but provided the companies with critical capital and something even more valuable: “Mr. Buffett’s implicit endorsement of their long-term prospects. Shares of these companies generally went up after they revealed Berkshire’s involvement.”
Tags: Bank of America, Berkshire, Billionaire, Blue-chips, Capital, Dow Chemical, Endorsement, Financial Crisis, General electric, Goldman Sachs, Investments, Mars, Payoff, Premium, Shares, Warren Buffett
Washington Post (April 29, 2013)
Despite the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo remain too big to fail. “At $7.8 trillion, their combined assets are half the size of the entire U.S. economy, and they hold more than half of the nation’s $7 trillion in deposits.” It is unlikely that the U.S. government could ever allow any of them to fail.
Tags: Assets, Bank of America, Citigroup, Dodd-Frank, Economy, Financial Reform, JPMorgan Chase, Too big to fail, U.S., Wells Fargo
New York Times (February 5)
Bank of America lost $2.2 billion, but awarded CEO Brian Moynihan $9 million in restricted stock. At Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein scored even more. In fact, pay and benefits set a new record of $135.5 billion at the top 25 publicly traded Wall Street banks and security firms. The New York Times is not impressed. “More needs to be done to tame bankers’ appetite for high-risk financial strategies that shower them with profit in good times and leave the taxpayers holding the bag when their bets go bad.”
Tags: Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Pay, Reward, Risk
