Thursday, February 28, 2008

Fed Chairman: Some Small US Banks May Go Under

Climateer's dive into the link-vault may pay off. Well, it already did, in the form of three posts:
Feb. 8 Doom and Gloom: What Can the Federal Reserve Do?
Feb. 8 Doom and Gloom: What Can the Federal Reserve Do? Part II
Feb. 14 Depression risk might force U.S. to buy assets

Today via CNBC, Bank Failures:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that some small U.S. banks might go under during the current stress prompted by housing market problems, but the U.S. bank system overall remained solid."I expect there will be some failures,'' Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee, referring to smaller regional banks who became heavily invested in real estate.

His comments caused a selloff in the stock market and a rally in the bond market.

"Among the largest banks, the capital ratios remain good and I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large, internationally active banks that make up a very
substantial part of our banking system,'' he said in response to a question during semi-annual congressional testimony....MORE