One of the major news stories of the last week was the much anticipated release by the U.S. Treasury of the Stress Test results. Officially known as the “Supervisory Capital Assessment Program,” SCAP for short is crammed with tables, charts and other financial arcana too far removed from the commonplace utterances of daily life.

Although media tried, all one could get from the massive coverage was the impression that the participant banks bargained hard with the regulators so that none would fail, proving the recently coined adage too big to fail. Such media coverage bodes well for the biting satire of the likes of Jon Stewart, Colbert and SNL. In fact SNL opened with this hilarious skit where Tim Geithner played by Will Forte reported to the public the results of the “written” stress test taken by the CEOs of the 19 banks.

humour aside, below is a map showing the worst case scenario (10% or more unemployment rate?) losses for each of the 19 “banks” including GMAC and MetLife.

The other side of this are the banks that would have really failed the stress test, see the map below. Of the 80 plus banks that failed since year 2000, nearly 50% failed since January 2008 and more than 30 failed since January of 2009. FDIC took these under the receivership, an euphemism for the take-over the banks that were not that big to fail!

Even after much panning in the multi-media world, the stress test have must have done something good at least to some of the banks. US BankCorp, Wells Fargo, Key Corp and Capital One have been able to raise billions in capital from private investors. And some of them will be able to repay TARP. Finally, if imitation is a form of flattery then one should note that now EU Bank regulators want to conduct their version of the “Stress Test”. More on this if and when EU ever dares to fail any of the participating banks! Because banks over there are also too big to fail!

Here are the links on Finder! to the data on Finder for:
Stress Test aka Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP)
The data also has combination of attributes based on the SCAP report as well as WSJ’s interpretation of the same.
FDIC’s list of Failed banks
The links to the maps on Maker! are shown below:
Stress Test: Worse case scenario losses
Not too big to fail banks

Popularity: 9% [?]

One of the major news stories of the last week was the much anticipated release by the U.S. Treasury of the Stress Test results. Officially known as the “Supervisory Capital Assessment Program,” SCAP for short is crammed with tables, charts and other financial arcana too far removed from the commonplace utterances of daily life.

Although media tried, all one could get from the massive coverage was the impression that the participant banks bargained hard with the regulators so that none would fail, proving the recently coined adage too big to fail. Such media coverage bodes well for the biting satire of the likes of Jon Stewart, Colbert and SNL. In fact SNL opened with this hilarious skit where Tim Geithner played by Will Forte reported to the public the results of the “written” stress test taken by the CEOs of the 19 banks.

humour aside, below is a map showing the worst case scenario (10% or more unemployment rate?) losses for each of the 19 “banks” including GMAC and MetLife.

The other side of this are the banks that would have really failed the stress test, see the map below. Of the 80 plus banks that failed since year 2000, nearly 50% failed since January 2008 and more than 30 failed since January of 2009. FDIC took these under the receivership, an euphemism for the take-over the banks that were not that big to fail!

Even after much panning in the multi-media world, the stress test have must have done something good at least to some of the banks. US BankCorp, Wells Fargo, Key Corp and Capital One have been able to raise billions in capital from private investors. And some of them will be able to repay TARP. Finally, if imitation is a form of flattery then one should note that now EU Bank regulators want to conduct their version of the “Stress Test”. More on this if and when EU ever dares to fail any of the participating banks! Because banks over there are also too big to fail!

Here are the links on Finder! to the data on Finder for:
Stress Test aka Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP)
The data also has combination of attributes based on the SCAP report as well as WSJ’s interpretation of the same.
FDIC’s list of Failed banks
The links to the maps on Maker! are shown below:
Stress Test: Worse case scenario losses
Not too big to fail banks

Popularity: 5% [?]

After Wachovia pretty much failed from giving toxic mortgages, it now has been bought out by another bank, Wells Fargo. On October 12, 2008 the Federal Reserve gave the approval for Wells Fargo to takeover Wachovia. The deal was partially controversial because Citigroup was also seeking the merger with Wachovia. Much of the appeal in a merger with Wachovia is their reputation for having one of the strongest retail presences in the United States.

The Maker! map below was created from data in Finder! which was collected from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Each point represents either a Wachovia bank in orange, or a Wells Fargo bank in brown. The proportion symbols used represent the total amount of deposits (in thousands of dollars) to each bank, with some of the largest showing in Sioux Falls—South Dakota, San Francisco—California, Minneapolis—Minnesota, Charlotte—North Carolina, and Philadelphia—Pennsylvania. Keep in mind though, city’s with a ton of banks within their proximity, gross a large number deposits such as New York City, Sand Diego, and Washington, D.C.

To give you an idea of Wells Fargo bank coverage after the takeover of Wachovia, please refer to the following map:

Popularity: 14% [?]

What’s so special about Cumberland, MD-WV? This energetic, small town is one of a select number of cities around the country that appears to be weathering the housing storm. While in many metropolitan areas housing prices are either stabilizing or are on a downward spiral, Cumberland’s market continues to climb. One indicator of prices, the OFHEO Housing Price Index, shows a growth rate of nearly 11% for the last year. The market is also still quite affordable. Over 80% of the households in that area with the city’s median income can afford homes that are currently up for sale.

Hot housing markets can also be found in large parts of Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other more localized areas of the country. Below is a heat map showing those hot spots. The cities used to generate the map include those whose OFHEO’s Housing Price index has risen over the last year and Wells Fargo/NAHB Housing Opportunity Index is currently above the national average of 40%. A normalized index was created to weight cities based on their relative ranking on both criteria. Cumberland comes out at the top of the pack.

Hot Housing Markets

Other notable cities on the list include:

The Gazelle: Housing prices in Midland, TX are surging. Over the last year, that city’s OFHEO HPI rose by 12.5%, which is the the higest growth rate out of all cities on the list. On the downside, the market appears to be out of reach for many who live in that city. It’s HOI is only 41.2 and declining.

Best on a Budget: The most affordable market on the list with an HOI of 87.5 is Indianapolis, IN. Prices in this market though, have risen at only a modest rate in the past year. The city’s HPI grew by just .7%.

Big City Sizzler: Austin, TX is one of the larger metro areas on the list whose housing prices are growing at a relatively high rate and it’s housing remains more affordable than the national average. This 16th most populated city’s HPI increased 7.2% and it’s HOI is currently around 53.1.

Housing Price Indices, Housing Opportunity Indices and other market attributes for all 76 cities on the list are available for interactive mapping at geocommons.

Popularity: 14% [?]