mark to market

Enron may be the most infamous, but it's just one of many instances of financial chicanery in recent corporate history. Examples of such shenanigans are rich, ripe, and recurring, right up to the present.

The residential real estate market is drowning in foreclosures, and the problem is broadening and worsening. Similar bad loans have been made in commercial real estate, so why isn't there a comparable flood of commercial foreclosures? Here's why.

Jonathan Weil at Bloomberg has quite a contention: on a mark-to-market basis, a number of banks -- such as Regions Financial (RF), SunTrust Banks (STI), and KeyCorp (KEY) -- would have negative regulatory equity. Meanwhile, others -- including giants like Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC)...

As the results of the government's bank "stress test" approach, a number of the financial firms are concerned about how they will raise money if they are told that they need more capital. HSBC (HBC), one of the world's largest banks, gave banks some hope. It brought in over $18 billion as the...

Stocks continued their push higher today, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average spent much of the day above 8,000 before settling down a bit. When the closing bell rang, the DJIA had posted a gain of 216 points, or 2.8 percent, to finish at 7,978. World leaders at the Group of 20 meetings in London...

Despite poor consumer confidence readings and lackluster data from the Chicago Purchasing Managers, stocks jumped back from yesterday's big sell-off, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 87 points, or 1.2 percent, to 7,609. The bad news for investors: The markets had a another negative...

General Electric Co. (GE) is going to host a five-hour "deep dive" conference on Thursday in which it will attempt to convince investors that its wobbling GE Capital unit -- the world's largest non-bank finance company -- will not end up bankrupting the big conglomerate. Investors concerns are...

New guidance about how banks should show mortgage assets on their balance sheets will be released shortly. The key rule in question is the mark-to-market rule of the FASB (FAS 157) that became effective in 2007. Those in favor of this rule believe mark-to-market accounting provides vital insight...

The dire financial condition of the biggest U.S. banks has inspired a lot of talk about nationalization in recent weeks. It has also stoked a long-running argument over an accounting rule that governs how banks value their investments, including all the toxic mortgage-related bonds and derivatives...