The title of this quick missive could very easily relate to this week’s release of the latest inflation data. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased off the level reported in recent months, which had been a 13-year high, measuring 5.3% versus a year ago. The 5.4% inflation rate recorded in June and July had been…
read article →In a few months, the Michigan banking landscape will witness a development that has not existed in decades — there will be zero independent banks headquartered in the state with total assets of at least $10 billion. Zero. In the last six months, three announcements detailed that the state’s two largest banks (TCF, which is approximately $50…
read article →As Q1-2021 earnings releases hit the wires, the big banks have already set a general tone along the lines of “it didn’t get as bad across the board as we initially thought a year ago…but we are still not completely out of the woods”, economic forecasts continue to reflect a brighter, and welcoming, picture for…
read article →Businesses shutting down. Schools, churches, and theaters closing. Public gathering largely forbidden. Citizens instructed to wear masks and avoid shaking hands. Hundreds of thousands of Americans succumbing to the virus. Even the President of the United Stated contracting this lethal variant of the common flu. 2020? No. Approximately 100 years ago, the 1918 Flu Pandemic…
read article →As the Holidays rapidly approach, there is great news as we deal with the pandemic! Congress just approved a nearly $900 billion stimulus deal, including $600 individual payments, a $300 boost to federal unemployment insurance benefits, increased funding for vaccine distribution and Covid-19 testing, and a roughly $284 billion extension of the small business Payment Protection Program…
read article →Over the past few weeks, I’ve given much thought as to what I wanted to say in the final Michigan Banking Summary of 2020. A short, but sincere, “Happy Holidays” just didn’t seem quite right amidst the hardships and losses experienced across our state (and this country) because of the pandemic. Waxing philosophical on the…
read article →With the Presidential election just a few days away, the markets have experienced a few fits and starts in recent sessions, as investors wrestle with the potential implications of the results, compounded by the possibility that such results may not be known for some time after November 3rd. As it relates to the banking sector,…
read article →With a dramatic broad market recovery attracting significant press coverage in recent weeks, it’s worth noting that, technically, not all participants have truly recovered from the initial early-spring Covid-induced downdraft. Recall how devasting and swift that sell-off was: it only took about six weeks for all major market indices to decline roughly 35%, recording the…
read article →After witnessing fairly consistent levels that approximated 250+ transactions announced in recent years, the M&A activity in the banking industry has, much like everything else in this pandemic-framed environment, been dramatically altered. Annually, from 2017 through 2019, the number of acquisitions in the sector totaled 255, 254 and 259, respectively. Through early July of this…
read article →Issue 6: June 2020 As segments of the national economy slowly re-open, often in incremental stages depending upon the COVID-19 impact within a state and the perceived risk profile (from a healthcare perspective) of that business, all eyes are affixed on the Depression Era-levels of unemployment that litter the U.S. landscape. The forced shutdowns in…
read article →Through mid-May, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) has approved more than 4.3 million loans nationwide, representing well in excess of $500 billion. The PPP initiative, with Congressional authorization to commit approximately $670 billion in funding to small businesses as part of the $2+ trillion CARES Act stimulus plan, was largely…
read article →With the world’s attention, and understandably so, on any and every developing story related to the coronavirus pandemic, I thought I would take a quick look at a few underlying financial metrics that existed within the banking industry at year-end 2019, as compared to those same metrics just before the start of the Great Recession….
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