Here are the stories that caught our eye this week.
Possible bank failure?
Perhaps the biggest story of last seven days has been the saga of Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB), which struggled all week and slumped heavily on Thursday, leading to a broad market selloff.
Markets are worried the German bank is close to insolvency, teetering on the edge of collapse because of massive leverage, off-balance sheet obligations, and exposure to billions of dollars worth of derivatives. Hedge funds and other major players are pulling accounts and refusing to lend to the troubled bank.
If Deutsche Bank goes down, the worry is it sends global stock markets reeling.
Stumpf grilled again
Embattled Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) CEO John Stumpf went back to Washington on Thursday to face the House Financial Services Committee. Predictably, this didn’t go well, with at least one member of the committee calling for his resignation.
Even Stumpf’s largest shareholder, Warren Buffett, reportedly weighed in. He told CNBC he had spoken to Stumpf only once since the scandal started, but didn’t offer much in the way of details. Most are assuming Buffett is more upset about the scandal than has been released publicly.
BlackBerry abandons phones
After months of rumors and speculation, BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) finally made it official on Wednesday, announcing it would be getting out of the smartphone business. Instead, it will license its brand name to other manufacturers who already do hardware.
BlackBerry has one last internally designed model which it may release, but that’ll be it. The company will focus on its software and licensing efforts from now on.
