Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Hold on Tight: The Dow bounced back up again yesterday by 423 points, 4 percent. As the Post described: "investors cheered a better-than-expected report on jobless claims in another round of volatile trading that continued a week-long pattern of wild swings between gains and losses." The Journal referred to the week as "one of the most volatile streaks in history for stocks." The Times said the move from "panicked selling to fevered buying and back" has left "investors bewildered about what might come next." But banks shouldn't expect the huge number of trades to help their bottom lines. The Journal notes, "a stock-trading surge likely won't generate enough commission revenue for banks and securities firms to overcome the losses they are expected to take this quarter from holding stock inventories whose value has fallen with the recent market rout." Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post

Breaking News This Morning ...Bank of America agreed to sell its $8.6 billion Canadian credit card portfolio to Toronto-Dominion Bank. Terms were not disclosed. This was the third sale of international credit-card portfolios by the bank this year. It still plans to sell its U.K. and Ireland credit card operations.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Those tech companies provide an allocative service with fewer employees, but they also don't have regulators and don't need retail branches. Perhaps Apple's the better benchmark.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...B of A Trying Sell Portfolio: Bank of America is in talks to sell a Merrill Lynch real estate portfolio for up to $1 billion to Blackstone Group. Wall Street Journal, New York Times

Receiving Wide Coverage ...SEC Shredded: Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi gives us a crushing assessment of the Securities and Exchange Commission's integrity in a piece that describes the systematic destruction of closed "matters under inquiry" over the past 17 years. The problem was "brought to the attention of Congress in July, when an SEC attorney named Darcy Flynn decided to blow the whistle."

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Foreclosure Settlement Talks: The Obama administration is pressuring New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman to accept a settlement with large banks over foreclosure practices, the Times reported. But Schneiderman has resisted because he believes it will restrict his ability to investigate things like how loans were bundled into mortgage securities. Banks are getting increasing frustrated with Schneiderman and asked the Obama administration for help in changing the New York AG's mind. The Journal, meanwhile, reports on a broader impediment to the settlement talks. The sides seem to be at a stalemate, with banks seeking wide-ranging immunity that would cover all mortgage-related charges, while state attorneys general are willing to clear the banks on robo-signing and servicer-related misdeeds, while leaving open the possibility of suits for wrongdoing in fair lending and securitization. New York Times, Wall Street Journal

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Fiddling (and Looting) While Rome Burned: The FDIC is suing 17 former directors and officers of Silverton Bank, charging gross negligence and corporate waste related to the May 2009 collapse of the Buckhead, Ga., bank — the state's largest. As the economy fizzled, the bank continued to pursue real estate loans. But there were other questionable actions, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out: the purchase of two airplanes and a hangar to store them, and a builiding called "The Medici," a lavish headquarters that cost $35 million and boasted 26 conference rooms.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Fed to the Rescue? Stock markets have rallied this week on the expectation, or hope, that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, when he speaks Friday in Wyoming, will say the Fed plans to assist the markets by providing a third round of quantitative easing to lower long-term interest rates; or lowering the interest rate banks pay on their reserves, according to the Times. Likely not to be offered, to the consternation of the stock markets, is another round of stimulus spending. The Journal took a pessimistic stance, saying, the market's "optimism comes despite all signs to the contrary." New York Times, Wall Street Journal

Breaking News This Morning ...The Oracle to the Rescue: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced this morning that it was making a $5 billion investment in Bank of America. Markets quickly responded by sending the Charlotte company's stock up 23% in pre-market trading. Wall Street Journal, New York Times