As Many Banks Retreat from Overseas Exposure Wells Fargo, $WFC, Will Expand to Pick Up the Pieces

$WFC will double down over the next seven years in overseas mutual fund business.

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Tomorrow the Europeans meet to discuss further measures to tackle the debt crisis. The equity markets are hopeful the Europeans will put measures in place to step up growth as China had stated they will do so.

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REUTERS – In the run-up to Facebook’s (FB.O) $16 billion IPO, Morgan Stanley (MS.N), the lead underwriter on the deal, unexpectedly delivered some negative news to major clients: The bank’s consumer Internet analyst, Scott Devitt, was reducing his revenue forecasts for the company.

The sudden caution very close to the huge initial public offering, and while an investor roadshow was underway, was a big shock to some, said two investors who were advised of the revised forecast.

They say it may have contributed to the weak performance of Facebook shares, which sank on Monday – their second day of trading – to end 10 percent below the IPO price. The $38 per share IPO price valued Facebook at $104 billion.

The change in Morgan Stanley’s estimates came on the heels of Facebook’s filing of an amended prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in which the company expressed caution about revenue growth due to a rapid shift by users to mobile devices. Mobile advertising to date is less lucrative than advertising on a desktop.

“This was done during the roadshow – I’ve never seen that before in 10 years,” said a source at a mutual fund firm who was among those called by Morgan Stanley.

PARIS (AP) — The 17-country eurozone risks falling into a “severe recession,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Tuesday, as it called on governments and Europe’s central bank to act quickly to stop the slowdown spilling over into the global economy.

OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan said the eurozone is “close to” the possible scenario of a 2 percent economic contraction this year that the Paris-based think tank laid out as its worst-case scenario last November.

Padoan made his comments as the OECD, which comprises the world’s most developed economies, released its twice-yearly global economic outlook. The report forecasts a longer and deeper contraction in the eurozone than predicted in November, with the eurozone economy expected to shrink in 2012, and only manage a feeble recovery in 2013.

“Today we see the situation in the euro area close to the possible downside scenario” in the OECD’s November report, “which if materializing could lead to a severe recession in the euro area and with spillovers in the rest of the world,” Padan told reporters before the report’s release.

The OECD’s new forecast shows Europe falling behind the United States, where growth is seen accelerating both in 2012 and 2013.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Fitch cut Japan’s sovereign credit status on Tuesday to the lowest level among global ratings agencies as a political stalemate dims the chance that the country can curb its snowballing debt.

Fitch Ratings cut Japan’s long-term foreign currency rating by two levels to A plus from AA. It cut the more important local currency rating by one notch to A plus from AA minus. Both were given a negative outlook.

Fitch warned that further downgrades were possible unless the government takes new fiscal policy measures to stabilise public finances and its ratio of debt to gross domestic product.

“The downgrades and negative outlooks reflect growing risks for Japan’s sovereign credit profile as a result of high and rising public debt ratios,” Andrew Colquhoun, head of Asia-Pacific sovereigns at Fitch said in a statement.

“The country’s fiscal consolidation plan looks leisurely, relative even to other fiscally challenged high-income countries, and implementation is subject to political risk.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRRjPYPX1EA&feature=g-all-u

A new report offers the first empirical evidence of “reshoring” where jobs once lost to emerging economies are being moved back to the U.S.

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It once promised to redefine music, politics, dating, and pop culture. Rupert Murdoch fell in love with it. Then everything fell apart.

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Some $FB investors are already down 25% on their purchases. Who better to blame than the bankers for the flawed IPO?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coYoIHj91HA&feature=player_embedded

K street is going gangbusters right now and the administration has welcomed them since day one.

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A watchdog panel has accused the USDA for corrupting an advisory board overseeing organic food.

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Reminds me of Drexel Burnham…

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$WFC does not dabble in risky derivatives and has very little if any exposure overseas. Traditional banking and mortgage lending has its merits and they are beginning to shine at Wells.

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The numbers are on the wrong side of confidence that the debt woes are going to be solved in a timely fashion.

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What used to be a sure fire way to make money, at least for a 10 year run, has now under performed the major averages. It seems the only sure thing is that there is no sure thing.

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