Financials- $XLF BIS hits back at bank’s “doomsday” scenarios – Citi and MS, has cut ~200 jobs

· STWD, Starwood Capital – the companies and their founder, Barry Sternlicht, are profiled in the NYT; the article says Sternlicht overpaid for the loan portfolio of Corus Bank; and now Sternlicht will have to foreclose on a lot of theproperties, which would be tough legally.  NYT

· Extended Stay Hotels – Centerbridge Partners-led consortium said to win bidding for Extended Stay; NYT  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/business/29hotel.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

· Bank Failures – 5 announced Fri night; brings YTD total to 78; 1) Sun West Bank, Las Vegas, NV ($360MM in assets; City National/CYN buys assets); 2)   Granite Community Bank, NA, Granite Bay, CA; 3) Bank of Florida - Tampa Bay, Tampa, FL; 4) Bank of Florida - Southwest, Naples, FL; 5) Bank of Florida - Southeast, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

· STD and NAB have made it through to the second round of bidding for the ~300 UK bank branches being sold by RBS; both have pulled ahead of BBVA – Reuters

· BIS hits back at bank’s “doomsday” scenarios – the Bank for Int’l Settlements has come against the banking industry’s claims that profitability and growth will be sig. restrained as a result of global regulatory overhauls.  FT  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6d4c92a4-6c26-11df-86c5-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss

· MS – MS-Smith Barney, the brokerage JV between Citi and MS, has cut ~200 jobs as a result of redundancies following the integration process.  Bloomberg

· FITB - has elected William Isaac to its board and named him chairman; Isaac served as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 1981 through 1985 (Reuters)

· Hedge fund performance – HFs post largest monthly drop since Lehman – “Hedge funds lost an average of 2.7 percent through May 27” (largest decline since Nov ’08).  Almost every strategy lost money in May – Bloomberg

· Hedge funds – a new study reveals that HF investors chase recent performance irrespective of the risks behind a strategy; investors will pour money into those funds that have performed best over the prior three qtrs (DJ)

· CS – Credit Suisse has jumped up to #2 on the league tables so far in ’10 based on the value of deals the company is advising on (on advisory revenues though its ranking hasn’t jumped as much) – DJ

· Spanish local bank mergers - Caja Madrid, Spain's second largest savings bank, is seeking up to 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) from a government rescue fund set up to promote mergers among the country's network of unlisted regional banks – Reuters

· Banks – Reuters Breaking Views was positive on the group; says many trading below book value.

· Mortgage insurance – MICA releases Apr data - Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA) today released its monthly statistical report for April with member companies reporting a total of $811,830 million in primary insurance in force for the month.  http://www.privatemi.com/news/statistics/detail.cfv?id=164