At The Motley Fool, we know our readers like to be informed. So we've scouted out today's most relevant news items and brought them to you all in one page. We hope you find this midday edition informative and useful.
Bank of America in capital-building mode for longer
It seems the U.S.' largest bank, Bank of America
In comparison, rival banks such as Citigroup
European woes may be in small loans
With most of the focus has been on sovereign debt in Europe, it seems the problem may be a massive amount of small loans. After the latest stress test revealed only eight banks flunked the 5% capital cushion requirement, experts decided to dig deeper into the data. This revealed an even larger debt held by banks, from residential mortgages, small-business loans, corporate debt, and commercial real estate loans to institutions and individuals in ailing economies.
France, the third-most-exposed country -- after Italy and Spain -- holds $46 billion in these types of loans, more than three times its sovereign debt. BNP Paribas, Credit Agricola, BPCE Group, and Societe Generale all hold loans and debt issued to institutions and individuals in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
Underwriter downgrades LinkedIn
After a skyrocketing IPO, LinkedIn's
Moody's suggests eliminating debt ceiling
Ratings agency Moody's suggested that the best way to eliminate uncertainty among bondholders is to eliminate the debt ceiling altogether. After nearly a month of bitter arguing in Congress over whether to raise the debt ceiling and by how much, Moody's said it would reassess its threat of downgrading the U.S. rating if the ceiling was eliminated. The debt ceiling has not been a constraint measure for the country's debt, because Congress had historically raised it without controversy. Read more at Reuters.
Apple 1, HTC 0
California-based technology giant Apple
So there you have it, the top financial stories for this afternoon. Check Fool.com throughout the day for commentary on these and other stories. Also, follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, or through our email digests.