Seven To Ten

Lehman is seeking cash again, in the form of billions of dollars. It is estimated that Lehman could sell about $3 billion in common stock, just two months after the firm raised $4 billion in a heavily oversubscribed sale of preferred stock.

That April 1 move unleashed a massive relief rally in the financial sector as Lehman, then rumored to be in danger of following in the footsteps of Bear Stearns into deep distress, showed it could easily raise new money to shore up its balance sheet.

But the mood in the banking and brokerage business has darkened again over the past week. Last week, hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who is short Lehman’s shares, questioned Lehman’s accounting, saying the firm hasn’t sufficiently reserved for possible losses on its portfolio of collateralized debt obligations.

Monday brought management shakeups at two big banks and a warning from ratings agency S&P that its outlook on the sector is negative, due to the weakening U.S. economy, falling real estate prices and the risk of future writedowns on already hard-hit balance sheets.

The Journal speculates that Lehman’s decision to explore raising new capital means its second-quarter loss, due to be reported in two weeks, could be wider than the expected $300 million. All Lehman will say is that it’s intent on reducing risk.

“It is our clearly articulated strategy to reduce the size of our balance sheet this quarter,” the firm told the Journal. After falling 8% Monday, Lehman shares were down about 1% in early trading Tuesday.

Citigroup delivered another quarter of devastating results, losing more than $5 billion due to troubles in its fixed-income business and higher consumer credit costs, adding it would cut an additional 9,000 jobs.

The New York-based company also recorded more than $15 billion in writedowns, with the lion’s share coming from subprime-related direct exposures. But investors cheered the news, sending shares of Citigroup more than 6% in early trading, as the results were not as bad as some had feared.

Citi, however, did surprise analysts by delivering better-than-expected top line growth. The company said revenue rose sharply to $13.22 billion from the previous quarter, still it remained at just about half of what it was a year ago.

At the same time, Friday’s results paled in comparison to the eye-popping $9.83 billion quarterly loss the company suffered three months ago - the worst ever recorded in the 196-year history of the firm and its predecessors.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said he was not happy about the results, but noted that he believed that efforts to cut costs, sell non-core businesses and beef up risk management would pay off.

“I think you will see we are taking all the action you’d want us to take to maximize the value of this franchise,” said Pandit.

Since Pandit’s ascension to the CEO post in December, management has made great strides in shaping up what some critics have called the company’s bloated corporate structure.

On Thursday, Citi announced it would sell its commercial lending and leasing business to General Electric for an undisclosed amount. The company has also announced other major moves including the sale of Diners Club International and its stake in Brazilian credit card company Redecard SA.

Citigroup’s results wrap up what has been a particularly tough week of results for the nation’s largest financial firms. Merrill Lynch recorded a loss of $1.96 billion, after about $6.6 billion in new writedowns. The company also said it planned to cut about 3,000 more jobs.

Wachovia Corp. surprised Wall Street Monday with a first-quarter loss of $350 million, while Washington Mutual reported a loss of $1.1 billion, or $1.40 a share, on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase topped Wall Street expectations after reporting earnings of $2.4 billion. Still the results were just half of what they were a year ago.

In this day and age, businesses need immediate access to funds to seize opportunities when they arise. Banks are usually the first source for loans but if they would not fund your businesses, where do you turn to? Actually, there is still another avenue known as hard money lenders.

The frustrating situation with banks has led to the growth of hard money lenders who are ready to accept higher risks and extend loans immediately. A hard money loan is a real estate mortgage collateralized against the quick-sale value of the property for which the loan is made.

Interest payments may be higher than usual to protect the lenders’ interest considering most customers have bad or low credit. One of the best sources for nationwide hard money lender is LV Hard Money. They offer commercial as well as residential hard money loans.

You eliminate the hassle of conventional financing, need not worry about the brokerage charges, as they are direct lenders. They can help you stop foreclosure, and could also cash out refinances. Moreover, you will experience a prompt delivery of cash. The most impressive is that the purchase loan is based on your appraised value and not on purchase price.

All you would need to do decide, simply fill in their online form and they will do the rest. They would get back to you and guide you with the entire procedure. I browsed through the site, especially Florida hard money and found it very easy as a consumer.

When Citigroup and Merrill Lynch each fessed up to nearly $10 billion in losses last quarter, investors believed the companies had finally scrubbed their books clean. Those hopes were a bit premature.

“The fourth quarter felt like the kitchen sink [quarter],” said Jaime Peters, a bank stock analyst at Morningstar. “We are going to find out it necessarily wasn’t.”

Citi and Merrill are among a group of major financial firms due to deliver ugly results for the first quarter in the coming week. The first quarter was marked by the near collapse of Bear Stearns, continued credit market woes and increased signs that the U.S. economy is indeed in a recession.

Overall, analysts anticipate that the banks’ results won’t be quite as bad as they were when they announced grim fourth-quarter results three months ago. But banks still find themselves squeezed by many of the same problems that plagued them at the end of 2007.

Most American families will be happy with some extra cash in the household these days. Money is tight and if any event crops up, the monthly paycheck can overrun very easily. For those with little savings in the bank, things can get ugly or embarrassing.

I have done some research in the field of money lending, and it is difficult to get funds from banks. The process is, in a word, frustrating. First, you have to research the banks to find acceptable interest rates, then spend a lot of time compiling credit and personal data for the bank’s assessment. After that, wait for their decision and there is no guarantee a loan will be extended.

Payday loans are more convenient but you have to be careful to sign up with the reputable sites. Security of clients’ information is paramount to prevent identity theft. There are certain sites which sell private information of customers to identity thieves and once that happens, the cost and time spent cleaning up your reputation can really made you cry.

At paydayone.com, the risk is lesser as they are subjected to strict regulation, being based and licensed in the United States, unlike offshore companies. All the Payday Loans have very attractive terms for interest rates and payment, and are issued in the space of 24 hours. Customer service is professional and you can apply anytime from home or work, without faxing documents or waiting in line.

The site has made it easy for everyone (bad credit customers included) to pay bills and cover unexpected expenses. Apply today and you can expect their State Licensed Cash Advances to arrive hassle-free in your bank account as soon as tomorrow.

However, I will suggest that you use payday loans as a last resort, in case you abuse the easy credit and end up in worse shape than before. Your loan snowballs until it exceeds your monthly paycheck and you can no longer make repayments, that is not what the companies want either.

Citi and Merrill are expected to announce another series of writedowns due to eroding values of mortgage-backed securities and leveraged loan portfolios. Other areas, like home equity loans, have shown increasing signs of deterioration too.

The question now is how bad do losses get? The numbers, in some cases, are really disastrous. To make matters worse, consumer spending has slowed and unemployment has increased - driving bigger losses in banks’ consumer-related businesses such as credit card, small business and even their commercial real estate portfolios. As a result, banks are having to set aside more money for potential loan losses.

Washington Mutual revealed on Tuesday that it had to set aside $3.5 billion in loan loss provisions and could be staring at a loss of $14 billion by year end.

The bad news isn’t limited to loan portfolios, either. When the Federal Reserve aggressively cut interest rates earlier this year, the expectation was the cuts would boost banks’ net interest margins, a key measure of the profit banks make from taking in deposits and lending them back out.

But competition for customers has been so tough that banks have been unable to cut their deposit rates as much as they would have in the past. At the same time, companies with sizeable investment banking divisions like Citigroup, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch are expected to be hit by a slowdown in merger and initial public offering activity. Merger advisory and equity underwriting are two key sources of lucrative fees for investment banks.

With banks imploding and consumers spending dwindling, one safe haven for the market could be in the stodgy industrials sector. Companies that make things such as bolts and studs and hydraulic equipment may sound depressingly unsexy.

Industrial companies are actually reporting healthy sales and profits. And there’s nothing sexier than better-than-expected earnings in this ugly market. Investors believe industrials are a safe haven for those tired of seeing more big bank losses, tech companies floundering, and concerns about weak retail spending.

Fundamentally, they are well-positioned to take advantage of the weak dollar and the amount of infrastructure that will be built out in lesser developed countries.