Capital One, one of the nation's largest credit card companies, said
yesterday that profit in the second quarter fell by 40 percent and it
warned that more customers are defaulting on their loans.

The McLean financial giant, which in recent years has diversified
operations by adding retail banking and auto lending services, blamed
the economic downturn for the rise in defaults and said the trend is
expected to continue through the end of the year.

"We view the scenario as consistent with the views that the U.S. is in
recession," Gary Perlin, Capital One's chief financial officer, said in
a conference call with analysts.

* * *

Friday, July 18, 2008

Merrill Lynch reported a $4.65 billion loss during its second quarter
yesterday, surpassing the expectations of the most pessimistic analysts
and underscoring the continued toll of the subprime mortgage meltdown
even as economists and policymakers turn their attention to other
economic threats such as inflation.

It is the fourth consecutive quarter in the red for Merrill, the
nation's third-largest investment bank, and the firm has now piled up
$19 billion in losses over the past year because of the credit crisis
and its exposure to the troubled mortgage industry.

* * *

Consumer prices surged 5 percent over the past year, the Labor
Department said yesterday, as inflationary pressures spread ominously
beyond energy and food to other parts of the economy.

The report said consumer prices jumped 1.1 percent in June, the
second-biggest monthly increase since 1982, and heightened concerns that
the U.S. economy may be facing its worst bout of stagflation -- a
combination of rising prices and sluggish growth -- in almost three
decades.

* * *

Enjoy.