Bank of America's Countrywide Bet May Bolster Mortgage Market

Bank of United States Corp. bought $2 billion of preferable stock from Countrywide Financial Corp. to stabilise the nation's biggest mortgage loaner as radioactive dust from the U.S. lodging slack paralyzes recognition marketplaces worldwide.

``Countrywide is no longer on the endangered company list,'' Hood Ziegel & Co. analyst Dick Bove wrote in a short letter to clients yesterday. ``This investing do sense for both companies. Depository Financial Institution of United States will now presumably be the preferable loaner to Countrywide.''

Depository Financial Institution of America, the second-biggest U.S. bank, acquires shares that output 7.25 percentage and can be converted into common stock at a terms of $18, Calabasas, California-based Countrywide said yesterday in a statement. Countrywide shares climbed 21 percentage in drawn-out trading followers the announcement.

While Countrywide acquires hard cash needed to maintain making loans, the extract also may assist to reassure investors that the mortgage marketplace is safe after rising default rates sparked a planetary recognition crunch and forced the U.S. Federal Soldier Modesty to cut adoption costs for banks. The Fed's Aug. Seventeen move, designed to direct more than hard cash to companies starved for short-term financing, came a twenty-four hours after Countrywide tapped $11.5 billion of exigency recognition lines.

``With last week's Federal action and today's announcement, it looks that the mortgage working capital marketplaces will go back to more than normal degrees of activity and liquidness sooner than we thought,'' Fox-Pitt Kelton Inc. analyst Leslie Howard Shapiro wrote in a short letter to investors yesterday.

The proclamation sent Countrywide shares to $26.33 as of 7:07 p.m. yesterday, after they gained 3 cents to $21.82 in New House Of York Stock Exchange composite trading. Countrywide had dropped 49 percentage for the year, including the diminution that followed the Aug. Fifteen Merrill Lynch & Co. study predicting the company's hard cash deficit might coerce it into bankruptcy.

Off the List

Converting the preferable stock would give Depository Financial Institution of United States 111 million common shares, or a 16 percentage interest in Countrywide, Bove estimated. The dealing will be ``additive'' to Depository Financial Institution of America's earnings, he said.

``We were able to travel to California, expression at their trading operations and their books,'' said Henry Martin Robert Stickler, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Depository Financial Institution of America. ``We determined the value is greater than what the marketplace was giving them recognition for.''

The ballot of assurance sent shares of mortgage loaners up in after-hours trading. Thornburg Mortgage Inc. gained as much as 10 percent, IndyMac Bancorp added 7 percentage and American Capital Mutual Inc. advanced about 2.5 percent. Accredited Home Lenders Retention Co., which slashed 1,600 occupations yesterday in an attempt to sit out the mortgage meltdown, rose almost 9 percent.

Worth Less

Countrywide, which made $421.1 billion of loans last year, have struggled to maintain its terms after investors stopped buying mortgages and short-term debt investors refused to refinance its commercial paper.

The company may necessitate to raise more than working capital because falling terms for place loans inch the secondary market, where they're bought and sold by Wall Street traders, have got pared the value of its mortgage portfolio, according to Sean Egan, managing manager of Egan-Jones Ratings Co. in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

The assets are probably deserving ``less than its outstanding obligations,'' he said.

In January, Countrywide shares were buoyed by guess that it might be acquired by Depository Financial Institution of America. The stock tumbled after Depository Financial Institution of United States Head Executive Military Officer Kenneth Jerry Lee Lewis said he had reserves about the pattern of loaning through mortgage brokers, as Countrywide does.

``We like the product, but we don't like the business,'' Jerry Lee Lewis said Jan. 31. Six calendar months later, in a June 19 interview, he said the lag in place gross sales was ``just about over'' and predicted that the economic system would pick up in the 2nd one-half of this year.

Back to Normal

In yesterday's statement, Jerry Lee Lewis said Depository Financial Institution of America's investing in Countrywide ``will be a measure toward a tax return to more than normal liquidness in the mortgage markets.''

Countrywide chief executive officer Angelo Mozilo said the bank's investing ``strengthens our balance sheet, enabling us to place Countrywide for future growth.''

Depository Financial Institution of United States won't acquire any Countrywide board seating in connexion with its investment, Stickler said.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the greatest investment banker of U.S. chemical bonds backed by mortgages, announced yesterday that it will fold its subprime-lending unit and fire 1,200 employees. Accredited Home announced 1,600 occupation cuts, and HSBC Holdings Plc said it would get rid of 600 occupations in the U.S. and stopping point a mortgage business office in Indiana.

To reach the newsman on this story: Thomas Bradley Keoun in New House Of York at
.

Dollar Falls Against Euro on Speculation Fed Will Lower Rates

The dollar drop against the Euro for the first clip this hebdomad on guess the Federal Soldier Modesty will take down its mark charge per unit for loans between Banks to comfort credit- marketplace turmoil.

The U.S. dollar dropped against 12 of the 16 most-active currencies after Senate Banking Committee President Saint Christopher Dodd said yesterday Federal President Ben S. Bernanke agreed to utilize ``all of the tools at his disposal'' to reconstruct stableness in fiscal marketplaces roiled by the subprime mortgage crisis.

``The dollar is likely to fight against the euro,'' said Kengo Suzuki, currency strategian at Shinko Securities Co. inch Tokyo. ``It's go a inquiry of when the Federal will take down rates and this is a negative development for the dollar.''

The dollar drop to $1.3489 against the Euro at 7:10 a.m. inch Greater London from $1.3466 late yesterday in New York. Against the yen, it traded at 114.64 from 114.43. The U.S. currency may worsen to $1.3550 per Euro and 112 hankering next week, Suzuki said.

Dodd spoke yesterday after a meeting with Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in American Capital after broadening losings on mortgages to U.S. householders with mediocre recognition made fiscal establishments loath to put on the line loaning to each other.

``A cut in the Federal finances charge per unit may be what necessitates to be done,'' said Richard Grace, senior currency strategian at Commonwealth Depository Financial Institution of Commonwealth Of Australia in Sydney. ``We could see the dollar come up under some downward pressure.''

Interest-rate hereafters demo bargainers see 90 percentage likelihood the Federal will take down its benchmark charge per unit to 4.75 percentage from 5.25 percentage by adjacent month. The Federal adjacent rans into Sept. 18.

`Take Time'

The New House Of York Federal yesterday lowered the fee that chemical bond traders pay to borrow its Treasury Obligations to a record low pressure in a command to ease a deficit in the marketplace for loans backed by the securities. The Federal said in a statement the move is ``temporary.''

The Federal on Aug. Seventeen decreased the charge per unit it bear downs Banks for direct loans by 0.5 per centum point to 5.75 percent. The cardinal depository financial institution also dropped linguistic communication indicating a prejudice toward fighting rise prices and highlighted a rising menace to economical growth.

Paulson said yesterday in an interview with CNBC that volatility in recognition marketplaces related to subprime mortgage losings will ``take time'' to subside.

``The marketplace is anticipating some Federal charge per unit cuts,'' said Adam MacKillop, who merchandises U.S. chemical bonds at Barclays Capital Japanese Islands Ltd. inch Tokyo. ``That's going to be dollar-negative.''

`Bought Excessively'

Gains in the hankering were curbed as charts bargainers utilize to foretell terms motions signaled a 3.8 percentage progress this calendar month against the dollar was too fast. The 14-day relative strength index for the dollar-yen was 28. A degree below 30 bespeaks the yen's mass meeting may reverse.

``The hankering have been bought excessively,'' said Nobuaki Tani, a client director of the Market Trading Office at Resona Depository Financial Institution Ltd. inch Tokyo. ``There's a hazard those long places could be unwound, pushing the hankering down'' to 114.80 against the dollar and 154.50 per Euro today, he said. A long place is a stake that a currency will rise.

The BOJ will throw rates at the last among major economies, according to 43 of 46 economic experts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The output on three-month euroyen hereafters for September, at 0.82 percent, bespeaks bargainers are betting the BOJ will raise rates a quarter-percentage point to 0.75 percentage at its September meeting. The cardinal depository financial institution last raised rates in February.

To reach the newsmen on this story: Francis Edgar Stanley White Person in Tokio at
; Bokkos Harui in Capital Of Singapore at

Japan's Bank Lending Slows as Companies Shun Debt (Update5)

Japan's lending growth slowed for a
third month as cash-rich companies ignored the lowest borrowing
costs among major economies and used their own funds to invest.

Loans excluding trusts rose 1 percent in April from a year
earlier, the Bank of Japan said in Tokyo today, slowing from 1.1
percent in March. Lending adjusted for currency fluctuations, bad
loan write-offs and securitizations climbed 1.9 percent.

Lending has risen less than 2 percent in each of the past nine
months as companies including Toyota Motor Corp. and Canon Inc.
shun the use of debt for expansion, instead using money generated
by the longest stretch of profit growth in 36 years. Borrowing is
unlikely to accelerate in coming months, said Takuji Aida.

``Companies have ample cash and that reduces their need to
borrow from banks,'' said Aida, chief economist at Barclays Capital
in Tokyo. ``The extra liquidity is more a reflection of strong
business activity.''

The yen traded at 120.21 per dollar at 5:11 p.m. in Tokyo
compared with 120.17 before the report was published. Bank lending
including trusts climbed 1 percent in April, the same pace as the
previous month, the central bank said.

Japan's banks began to increase lending in February 2006,
having disposed of bad debts accumulated after the bubble economy
burst 16 years ago. Growth in borrowing has slowed since peaking at
2.2 percent last July, the same month the Bank of Japan ended its
five-year policy of keeping interest rates near zero percent.

BOJ's Fukui

Loans excluding trusts were 388 trillion yen ($3.2 trillion)
in April, down from the record 537 trillion yen in March 1996.

The bank doubled the key overnight lending rate to 0.5 percent
in February. Governor Toshihiko Fukui's policy board will keep
borrowing costs on hold at its next meeting on May 16-17, according
to all 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Interest rates are ``very low'' given the economy's strength
and failing to increase borrowing costs could cause overinvestment,
Fukui said in a speech to business leaders in Tokyo today.

Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, said
he's ``not uncomfortable'' with the country's interest-rate levels.
``There's no great demand for financing'' among Japan's companies,
Mitarai, who is also chairman of Canon, said on May 7.

Canon, the world's largest maker of digital cameras, posted a
record profit last quarter. Toyota, the world's largest automaker
by market value, said yesterday that profit rose 8.9 percent in the
three months ended March 31.

Largest Banks

Growth in lending last month was dragged down by the country's
largest banks, while loans offered by regional banks accelerated.

Lending by Japan's 10 mega banks contracted 0.3 percent in
April from a year earlier, after rising 0.1 percent in March, the
report showed. Regional banks' loans climbed 2.4 percent, faster
than the 2.2 percent growth the previous month.

``Growth in loans has been driven by regional banks lending to
consumers and mid-sized companies,'' Takamasa Hisada, the Bank of
Japan's deputy director of bank surveillance.

An index of demand for loans from companies fell to 9 in April,
the lowest in more than a year, from 14 in January while that of
consumers rose to 13 from 7 in the same period, the Bank of Japan
said in a quarterly report last month.

Lack of loan demand is forcing banks to keep their borrowing
rates low, reducing interest income, said Tomoko Fujii, a senior
economist and strategist at Bank of America N.A. in Tokyo.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan's third-biggest
bank by assets, said last month full-year profit fell 36 percent,
worse than its forecast.

Other economists have a different view on the stalled growth
in loans.

`Sick of Borrowing'

``Companies are so sick of borrowing,'' said Richard Koo,
chief economist at Nomura Research Institute Ltd. They're slowly
regaining confidence to borrow after repaying debt amid a decade of
economic stagnation. ``This may take a while,'' Koo said.

The collapse of the bubble in the early 1990s triggered a
slump in stock and land prices, leaving companies laden with debt
and smothering demand for loans. Banks, which had secured loans
with land, became reluctant to extend credit, plunging the economy
into more than seven years of deflation.

Interest-bearing liabilities held by Japanese companies have
fallen to about 80 percent of gross domestic product, the lowest
since 1970, from more than 125 percent of GDP in the mid-1990s,
according to Merrill Lynch & Co.

Japan's money supply, or M2 plus notes in circulation, rose
1.1 percent in April, the central bank said in a separate report.
Broad liquidity, which includes bonds and investment trusts, gained
2.6 percent.

Savers, taking advantage of higher interest rates, have been
shifting money from current accounts to time deposits since the
central bank increased borrowing costs in July. Time deposits grew
3.7 percent in April and funds in current accounts dropped 1.3
percent, the bank said today.

``We expect a continuing shift from current accounts to time
deposits, as the impact of the additional rate hike in February
works through the economy,'' said Chiwoong Lee, research assistant
at Goldman Sachs Japan Ltd.

To contact the reporters on this story
Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at

Morgan Stanley Hires Carlos Oyarbide as COO for China (Update3)

Morgan Stanley hired former Credit
Suisse banker Carlos Oyarbide as chief operating officer in
China to help expand in the world's fourth-largest economy.

Oyarbide, 48, will be a managing director, reporting to Wei
Christianson, chief executive officer of China. He will start in
July, Morgan Stanley said in a press release.

Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest securities firm, has
sought to expand in emerging markets to cut its reliance on the
U.S. In China, it won rights to apply to offer yuan-denominated
services and mortgage-backed securities last year when it bought
Nan Tung Bank, based in the southern city of Zhuhai.

Overseas banks are accelerating expansion in the world's
fastest-growing major economy after the nation opened its
banking industry in December. Morgan Stanley has stepped up
hiring since last year after it slipped behind UBS AG and
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in share sales and takeovers in China.

The firm last week appointed chief economist Stephen Roach
as Asia chairman to lead a drive to arrange more takeovers and
stock sales in the region. In April, it hired Blair Pickerell to
head its investment funds unit in Asia. As head of HSBC Asset
Management (Hong Kong) Ltd., Pickerell had helped set up a China
fund-management venture with Shanxi Trust & Investment Corp.

Recent Hires

In the past two months in China, Morgan Stanley has hired
Guy Cui as managing director from HSBC Holdings Plc, Daniel Qiu
and Jerry Tse from Deutsche Bank AG and James Nien from JPMorgan
Chase & Co.

Oyarbide resigned as head of Credit Suisse's financial
institutions group in Asia excluding Japan last month. Before
joining the Zurich-based bank in 2003, he worked for Morgan
Stanley for 10 years, mostly based in Europe and including an
assignment in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2000. He graduated from the
Wharton school of business in 1983 and held posts with UBS AG
and management consultant firm Mckinsey & Co.

``I am delighted to welcome the return of Carlos, whom I
have known and respected for many years,'' Christianson said in
the release. ``Carlos's diverse experience and strong China
exposure position him well for this important role.''

Former Colleagues

Christianson had been a colleague of Oyarbide at Credit
Suisse and Morgan Stanley. She resigned as chairwoman of Credit
Suisse's investment banking unit in China in 2004, and was hired
by Citigroup Inc. to head the China investment banking team in
September the same year before rejoining Morgan Stanley last
year.

Morgan Stanley ranks second this year in advising on
overseas share sales by Chinese companies, up from 10th in 2006,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It ranked eighth in
advising on mergers and acquisitions that involved China last
year, down from third position from 2003 to 2005.

The company, the first overseas bank to buy a stake in a
Chinese securities firm, doesn't have a license to manage a
domestic Chinese offering.

While Morgan Stanley owns 34 percent of China International
Capital Corp., it has no management control. Elaine La Roche was
the last Morgan Stanley-appointed CEO of CICC, stepping down in
June 2000. She said there had been disagreements over management
in a 2005 interview with Bloomberg. Since then, Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. and UBS AG have set up brokerage ventures in China
that are licensed to underwrite stock sales.

The Chinese government last year stopped issuing new
licenses to foreign firms.

``Our partnership with CICC has worked out extremely well
because the Chinese appreciate the value of commitment and of
relationship,'' Christianson said. ``Our goal now is to continue
to help CICC where they require.''

International firms such as Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche
Bank AG have been competing for talent in a market where equity
sales and takeovers in China reached a record $137 billion last
year.

Adding Outlets

Citigroup Chief Executive Charles Prince said in March the
firm will add 14 outlets in China this year and expand
investment banking operations in the country. The bank last
month hired Eugene Qian from Deutsche Bank AG as managing
director of China investment banking.

Morgan Stanley has expanded in Asian markets including
China, India, Korea and Japan. In March, the firm said it would
pay $425 million to buy out its Indian joint venture with JM
Financial Ltd., opting to go it alone in the world's second-
fastest-growing major economy.

The bank also bought a Turkish brokerage as part of its
plan to start offering a range of businesses including trading,
investment banking and real estate, it said in November.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at
.

Teen charged with taking credit card from locker room

A Rhinelander teen has been charged with stealing a credit card from the locker room area at the YMCA of the Northwoods.Aaron Richardson, 17, made an initial appearance in Oneida County Circuit Court Friday where he was charged with fraudulent use of a credit card (a misdemeanor punishable by nine months in jail) and felony bail jumping.




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According to a police report attached to the complaint, Richardson was with two other young people at the YMCA when one of them allegedly took the credit card from a locker.The group took the credit card to Wal-Mart and Shopko where they successfully bought clothes and an IPod before one of the stores denied the card.It is unclear if the two people with Richardson are awaiting charges or if they have already been charged in juvenile court.Richardson was charged with bail jumping because he was free on bond in an Iron County case involving burglary and other charges.He is scheduled to be back in Oneida County Circuit Court May 7 for a preliminary hearing.YMCA of the Northwoods Executive Director Steve Courts says the Y advises its members to lock all of their belongings either in their car or in a locker. Locks are available for the lockers, he added, noting that the Y also has mandatory sign-in for all persons in the building.Courts said people tend to think that the YMCA is different from other places and that things like stealing won't happen there, but unfortunately that is not the case.&#8220We tend to have flare-ups a couple of times a year,” Courts said, adding that one theft is too many for his taste.