Biggest news this morning is that TMA cannot meet their margin calls and seems to going into bankruptcy. RBC Capital said now that one of TMA’s lenders has declared default, other agreements are automatically in default as well. The firm said as other lenders seize assets, TMA will have limited access to liquidity and limited means to resolve other capital or funding needs. The analyst expects the worst and sees little or no value will remain for shareholders. Target to $1 from $2. Shares are Underperform rated.
We talked about NLY late in the trading day yesterday and it seems the amount of put buying is now justified. NLY puts were recommended as a great short idea.
UBS could have another huge writedown. UBS AG came under renewed pressure on Thursday due to speculation it had sold a huge portfolio of risky mortgages at a deep discount and that the scale of its subprime losses was rapidly mounting.
FRE and FNM are hitting new lows.
The dollar fell to a new low against the euro as the European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged. The ECB is struggling with record inflation and the BOE is faced with sagging economic growth.
DVN- FBRC is advising clients to buy DVN ahead of the Barnett shale 3/28 update. In 2006 and 2007, the company experienced substantial growth and given the firm’s assessment of DVN’s Barnett associates, they believe the update could cause management to increase their upside potential. FBRC has reiterated their $115 target price and Outperform rating.
FMCN has earnings the 18th and some analysts are already talking FMCN up before their announcement. Sterne Agee expects FMCN to benefit from strong demand for advertising space in commercial, in-store, and residential locations. Target $75.
Fed Boston Bank Pres Rosengren speaks at 8am economic breakfast meeting on 3/6.
Fed St Louis Bank Pres Poole speaks on finance 8pm at University of Illinois 3/6.
BIDU upgrade- Sterne Agee views BIDU as more than just a search engine, as the company offers an integrated and creative package to advertisers with different needs. Additionally, the firm believes BIDU is well positioned to capture additional ad spend on paid search given its large demographic of young users.
JPM talks about the ABK deal. JP Morgan believes that $1.5B of new capital is likely not enough to fix the capital adequacy problem and that follow-on capital may be needed. They think shares may remain under pressure in the near term and maintain a Neutral rating.
MER is down this morning due to them amending terms to thier floating rate convertible securities. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
