MBIA Shares Popped: What You Need to Know (MBI)

MBIA Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Watch stocks you care about

The single, easiest way to keep track of all the stocks that matter...

Your own personalized stock watchlist!

It's a 100% FREE Motley Fool service...

Click Here Now

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of bond insurer MBIA (NYSE: MBI ) were getting a nice boost from investors today, gaining as much as 12% in intraday trading.

So what: MBIA agreed to drop a lawsuit against Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) that sought to recover payouts on $5.7 billion in credit-default swaps and collateralized debt obligations. How exactly is that good news for MBIA? There's speculation that MBIA agreed to drop the suit because the two companies are close to an agreement that will settle the claims.

Now what: If the expectations are correct, it will be interesting to see what MBIA is actually able to get out of B of A. The suit hadn't been going all that well for MBIA -- part of the suit was dismissed in 2010 and an appeals court tossed it entirely earlier this year. On the upside though, B of A does seem to be highly motivated to tie up financial-meltdown-related loose ends, as it agreed to pay Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO ) $1.6 billion in April and more recently offered $8.5 billion to settle claims from mortgage-backed security investors.

Want to keep up to date on these companies?

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

The Fool owns shares of and has opened a short position on Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Fool contributor Matt Koppenheffer owns shares of Bank of America, but does not have a financial interest in any of the other companies mentioned. You can check out what Matt is keeping an eye on by visiting his CAPS portfolio, or you can follow Matt on Twitter @KoppTheFool or Facebook. The Fool's disclosure policy prefers dividends over a sharp stick in the eye.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.