Although a major recovery in the asset markets has been witnessed in recent quarters, the outlook for the U.S. banking industry still remains in question due to several negatives, including asset-quality troubles, drawbacks of new regulations and the continuation of both residential and commercial real estate loan defaults.
After enduring extraordinary shocks in 2008, the U.S. banks entered an exceptional state of turmoil in 2009. Starting as a credit issue in the subprime segment of the mortgage market, the situation affected about the entire financial services industry, in all corners of the globe.
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Jean-Marie Eveillard
Jean-Marie Eveillard was recently interviewed on Bloomberg. Eveillard is one of the best global value investors today. He is the senior investment advisor to First Eagle Funds. The fund family has a spectacular long term track record. It is always interesting to hear him speak due to his decades of experience in value investing.
Here are the highlights:
Eveillard sees emerging markets as the best place for growth.
He questions whether the economic recovery can be sustained.
He thinks we are in a new era(of slow economic growth) but it is impossible to be sure.
He sees a lot of value in Japan.
He likes Kansai paint a Japanese company that produces a lot of it’s revenue in emerging markets.
Eveilard also likes Pargesa, a holding company which holds a lot of undervalued diversified companies.
He likes Vulcan material an American company which has a lot of good assets.
He is about to go to China to see if there are any companies that are attractive. H
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In an attempt to return value to its shareholders, on Tuesday, the board of Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE:AMP) announced the authorization for a stock buyback program of its common shares worth approximately $1.5 billion. This stock repurchase is expected to be valid till the company’s annual shareholders meeting in 2012. Management of Ameriprise projects to fund the buyback from the working capital and from the profits earned in the upcoming quarters. The company intends to make the offer in the open market, based on feasible market conditions. By this process, Ameriprise attempts to utilize its capital optimally by absorbing the repurchased shares and reducing the number of outstanding shares in the market. Thi Read more…
Over recent years things have gone from bad to worse for many non-homeowners that may have been hoping to get onto the property ladder. After years of soaring property prices many would be first time buyers will have been pleased to learn that prices starting plummeting following the onset of the global credit crunch in the latter part of 2007.
However, just as things looked as though they were on the up first time buyers were hit with a plethora of new problems, with the global financial meltdown resulting in severe restrictions on mortgages.
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