Less than two weeks later, though, Google announced a plan to acquire the cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion, a move that was viewed partly as an effort to bolster Google's weak patent portfolio in the mobile business.
The SEC accuses Mozilo of perpetrating insider trading, as he sold Countrywide stock with the knowledge of the firm's weak loan portfolio and increased exposure to credit risk.
In June, the firm and its partner, Deutsche Bank, acquired a much weaker Irish portfolio from Lloyds Banking Group, for 360 million euros, a discount of 83 percent.
RMW is the average return on the two robust operating profitability portfolios minus the average return on the two weak operating profitability portfolios.
The two bond insurers are under review due to concerns about deterioating asset portfolios, weak financial positions made worse by falling stock prices and their inability to raise additional capital.
But its shares tanked later in the day after Moodys Investors Service placed bond insurers MBIA and Ambac under review due to concerns about deteriorating asset portfolios, weak financial positions made worse by falling stock prices and their inability to raise additional capital.
"Bullard is saying it's important to look at economic conditions now — and they are fairly weak," said Kenneth B. Petersen, a portfolio manager at Laffer Investments.
"Households are gradually altering their behavior in the face of large capital losses in investment and real estate portfolios, a weak labor market, and tight credit," Joshua Shapiro, chief economist for MFR, wrote in a research note.
He says institutional investors are tidying up their portfolios, selling weak shares and stocking up on hot stocks for a cosmetic improvement known as "window dressing".
