STOCKS NEWS US-Firm: Congress may not OK any more money for TARP

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1057 ET 17March2009-Firm: Congress may not OK any more money for TARP
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DA Davidson on Tuesday speculated that if U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner were to attempt to get Congress to provide further financial
assistance for companies in need of a government rescue, such a request may not
be approved.

The firm referred to recent comments made by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke, who in a "60 Minutes" interview said he feared the impact of
"loss of political will" in terms of dealing with the credit crisis.

"After pondering this comment, we concluded that he was strongly hinting
that Congress has been burned so badly by the recent revelations of the use of
TARP funds to pay huge bonuses to employees of organizations receiving TARP
funds that Congress may not have the will to pass further funding for
additional financial rescue funding even if the situation becomes dire and
additional funding becomes imperative," it wrote.

It added that a request for addition funding, "in the form of additional
TARP or similarly structured programs with or without safeguards, would be
essentially dead on arrival on Capital Hill."

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1046 ET 17March2009-Aluminum companies fall after Alcoa cuts dividend
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Shares of aluminum companies fell on Tuesday, after Alcoa Inc (AA.N) cut
its quarterly dividend to 3 cents from 17 cents in a move to help it weather
the steep downturn in aluminum demand. The company, a Dow component, will also
issue stock and convertible notes worth about $1.1 billion and trim its 2010
spending.

Alcoa announced the moves late Monday.

For details, see [ID:nN16536634]

Shares of Alcoa fell 9 percent to $5.57 on Tuesday, while the Dow Jones
U.S. Aluminum Index .DJUSAL lost 8.8 percent to 45.40. Among the other
components of the index, Century Aluminum (CENX.O) fell 7.1 percent to $1.43
while Kaiser Aluminum (KALU.O) dropped 2.1 percent to $18.47.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1035 ET 17March2009-ResMed falls after Wachovia downgrade
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Shares of ResMed (RMD.N) fell 8.2 percent to $33.12 on Tuesday, after
Wachovia downgraded the respiratory equipment maker to market perform from
outperform. The firm said the recession could hurt the growth of the company's
devices that assist sleep-related breathing disorders.

"We worry that treatment is fairly discretionary in the short run,
particularly among less severe patients," the firm wrote.

For details, see [ID:nBNG459498]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1027 ET 17March2009-Whitney sees another rough year for banks
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Independent banking analyst Meredity Whitney on Tuesday said that "this
year won't look any better than last year" for banks, expecting them to shed
assets in the move to raise capital, depressing values.

She also said that Citigroup's (C.N) recent announcement that it had been
profitable in the first two months of 2009 would come back to haunt it.
[ID:nLH540243]

Speaking on CNBC, Whitney said that mark-to-market accounting didn't really
matter now, and that without a doubt, credit had been extended too freely in
previous years.

She also said that subprime asset class were about to take another leg
down, and that consumer credit was shrinking faster than estimates.
[ID:nWEN6029]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net