Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Stock Market Update: Tuesday, September 1, 2009

So, our good friends at Bank of the Cascades "entered into an agreement" yesterday with the FDIC and the Oregon Department of Finance, "which requires the Bank to take certain measures to strengthen the Bank's financial condition and operations." I'm no analyst but I read that as: "We are desperate to avoid being taken over by the FDIC and we'll do just about anything, including sending out a press release that makes it sound like we're proud partners with government regulators!"

I also love what their CEO, Patty Moss, says: "As a community bank, our performance is directly tied to our local and regional economies and as such, we have been significantly impacted by the sharp and prolonged downturn in the economy and the Northwest housing market." I'm no analyst but I read that as: "It's not our fault that we got greedy and decided to go all in on the real estate market!"

BUT, for me, the best part is buried way down in the press release when they brag about being named one of Oregon's "Most Admired Companies" in December 2008 as selected by other Oregon CEOs. I'm no analyst but I read that as: "We may be in trouble now but less than a year ago some people thought we were pretty cool." What it really shows is that most CEOs ain't worth as much as they think they are. (Present company excepted.)

However, that's not the big story today. The big story is that the market dropped by almost 200 points and our own stock dropped a whopping $1.38! As I have come to expect, there's no real explanation for the dramatic drop so I'm going with this story as having cast the entire financial services industry in a negative light: "Bank Of America Asks Armless Man For Thumbprint."
Stock Price

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