Investors Question Strength of Recovery; Bill Winters Quits JP Morgan – September 29, 2009

Drop in Confidence Worries Investors

An unexpected dip in consumer confidence pulled stocks right back to negative territory a day after advancing. Falling stocks narrowly outpaced those that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.2 billion shares. Stocks churned early on following another tick-up in home prices in July, but the dip in confidence quickly erased those gains. With economic data still largely mixed, investors still haven’t found enough momentum to continue the nearly seven-month long rally. Wall Street has been choppy since last week and this may be a result of the third-quarter ending. Despite today’s decline, it was much worst this time last year. In other market news, oil prices continued to decline on worries that demand will remain low in the coming months. The dollar rose versus the yen and euro, pushing higher after many declines. Treasury prices slumped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.29% from 3.28%.

In the News

The FDIC has to implement some new policies to prevent a liquidity crunch. The agency’s board proposed that member banks pay in advance three years’ worth of deposit-insurance premiums. The prepaid premiums are expected to total $45 billion and would prevent the agency from operating in the red by the end of this month. The FDIC also outlined some additional key points in its board meeting.

Americans are still not that confident in the economy. Confidence among US consumers unexpectedly fell in September as the rising unemployment rate weighed on households. This comes a day after a new report suggested that holiday sales may improve due to a rise in confidence. Retailers probably shouldn’t jump to any conclusions just yet because who knows what the October data will show.

On the flip side, home prices increased a non-seasonally adjusted 1.6% in July from the prior month. That’s the third straight month the index, which gauges home prices in 20 U.S. cities, has risen. Here’s a closer look at the data.

Been down so long, it looks like up

Housing Prices: How Much More Downside?

Video — State of Housing

Starbucks (SBUX) is trying to get the coffee lovers back through the doors of their stores. The world’s largest coffee shop operator is rolling out a new brand of instant coffee called Via. Recently Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz weighed in on the instant coffee wars.

Consumers are getting much closer to seeing those outrageous and sudden interest rate hikes disappear. The Federal Reserve proposed rules today to prevent rate increases during the first year after an account is opened.

Fed Should Teach Consumers Which Questions to Ask

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s internal watchdog issued two reports outlining 58 steps to improve the agency’s enforcement and inspections units after they failed to detect Bernard Madoff’s multi-billion Ponzi scheme. This comes on the heels of the scathing report released by SEC Inspector General David Kotz earlier this month.

It has been a while since we last checked in on CIT Group, Inc. (CIT). The troubled commercial lender is currently negotiating a possible new credit deal that could provide the company with $10 billion and prevent it from having to file bankruptcy.

JP Morgan Chase (JPM) is shaking up things over at their investment banking unit. The company announced the immediate departure of co-chief executive officer William “Bill” Winters and some other management changes.

Other Juicy Tidbits

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