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Legg Mason (LM)

BALTIMORE -- Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE:LM) has disclosed a 20.80 percent stake valued at $330.21 million in Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) according to Form 13G filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Baltimore-based investment firm said it owned 55.78 million shares in the Rochester, N.Y. maker of photographic equipment. The stake's value was based on Kodak's Feb. 22 closing stock price of $5.92 per share.
Is this a case of how low can you go with Kodak? Is Legg Mason seeing something traders have missed with EK now for years? Is the once might & powerful Rochester, NY company destined for a comeback? Long ago I actively followed Eastman Kodak, with it's fall from grace these past 6-8 years I took it off my monitor and forgot about it. Know what, I think it's time to put it back on the screens.

Feb 23 · 3:51:00 PM
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by Jerry Byrne

U.S. Bancorp (USB)

U.S. Bank has launched an enhanced cash vault service called Advanced Cash Credit and Notification solutions. The new solutions include Remote Cash Deposit and the DTS® Tracking System. Both services help companies streamline their cash handling needs, provide additional information regarding their deposits, reduce cost and mitigate risk.
Remote Cash Deposit is designed to mitigate the risk of fraud and reduce labor expense associated with cash handling, while also increasing staff safety and productivity.

Feb 23 · 10:58:00 AM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Larry Etter

Regions Financing (RF)

Regions Financial has announced the company`s executive management team and other organizational changes. David Turner has been named Chief Financial Officer; David Edmonds has been named to the new position of Chief Administrative Officer; Bill Wells, Chief Risk Officer and Tim Laney, head of Business Service; John Owen, head of Consumer Services.

Feb 23 · 10:55:00 AM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Larry Etter

Morgan Stanley (MS)

Morgan Stanley announced the appointment of two industry veterans to expand the leadership team within its Investment Management business. Jeffrey L. Shames, the former Chairman and CEO of MFS Investment Management, will join the Firm as a Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM). Edmond N. Moriarty III, previously a Senior Vice President at Merrill Lynch & Co., will join the Firm as Chief Operating Officer of MSIM. In addition to their new responsibilities in Investment Management, Mr. Shames and Mr. Moriarty will also act as Senior Advisor and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, of Morgan Stanley's Global Research division.

Feb 23 · 10:50:00 AM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Larry Etter

Bank of America (BAC)

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Banking and Markets President Tom Montag today announced that Sam Chapin and Todd Kaplan have been appointed executive vice chairmen of Global Banking, effective immediately. In these roles, Chapin and Kaplan will report to Montag and focus on deepening strategic client relationships and delivering the company's vast global resources on their behalf.

Feb 23 · 10:38:00 AM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Larry Etter

Goldman Sachs (GS)

Months after being labeled, among other things, a blood-sucking “great vampire squid” that caused “every major market manipulation since the Great Depression,” Goldman Sachs (GS: 156.75, n.a., n.a.%) is reportedly turning to a well-connected Texas public-relations firm to rehabilitate its image. According to the New York Post, Goldman is using Public Strategies, a firm headed by former George W. Bush and Karl Rove confidant Dan Bartlett, to gauge the bank’s “perception in the marketplace.”
Well that didn’t take long. How funny, only minutes after my previous post about Wall Street PR machines, did this come out from Fox Business news. Short of giving just about all their bonus money to charity, I don’t know how Goldman is going to spin this one. "Perception in the marketplace?" Everyone hates them, that's their perception. GS currently trading @ $156.75 in the pre-market. I wouldn't touch it. Stay tuned.

Feb 23 · 8:43:00 AM · Source: Fox Business
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by Jerry Byrne

American Express (AXP)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street paid out $20.3 billion of bonuses in 2009, up 17 percent from a year earlier, New York State's comptroller said, as the financial industry recovered fitfully from a near meltdown.
The disconnect with Main Street continues. Mr. DiNapoli acknowledged that many might consider the bonus numbers outsized given the lingering problems in the economy. "It's still a bitter pill for many people," he said. Like hello, do you think? How is the unemployed mother or father feeling this morning after reading this news? Wall St. had better put there PR machines in full blown overdrive in an attempt to spin these numbers. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall in the Goldman Sachs executive meeting going on right now?

Feb 23 · 8:08:00 AM · Source: Reuters
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by Jerry Byrne

Bank of America (BAC)

Bank of America on Monday won approval of a $150 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the Merrill Lynch merger, ending an embarrassing public battle between the largest U.S. bank and the nation's top securities regulator. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Monday approved the settlement but also lamented its deficiencies, calling it "half-baked justice at best." The settlement ends two lawsuits by the SEC against Bank of America. One alleged that the bank misled shareholders about $3.6 billion of bonuses that Merrill paid out. The other alleged that the bank misled shareholders about Merrill losses, which reached $15.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. "Its greatest defect is that it advocates very modest punitive, compensatory and remedial measures that are neither directed at the specific individuals responsible for the nondisclosures nor appear likely to have more than a very modest impact on corporate practices or victim compensation," Rakoff wrote. "While better than nothing, this is half-baked justice at best." Had Rakoff rejected the settlement, a trial over the bonuses would have begun on March 1. The judge rejected a $33 million accord five months ago.
How cool is U.S. District Judge Rakoff? Not afraid to speak his mind & tell it like it is, "half-baked justice at it's best." Of course he's referring to the battle between the SEC and and BOA over the merger with Merrill. Just 5 months ago Rakoff refused to rubber stamp the paltry sum proposed by BOA and the SEC of $33 million.

Feb 22 · 11:18:00 AM · Source: CNBC
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by Jerry Byrne

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