Can anyone here explain why Wells Fargo is doing so much better than other banks??

Off a ticker and evaluation site earlier today:

Top 5 Holdings Sector YTD Return % % Net Assets

Bank of America Corporation Financial Services -30.28 +8.37 %
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Financial Services -15.70 +7.84 %
Citigroup, Inc. Financial Services -50.37 +6.10 %
Wells Fargo Company Financial Services +14.30 +5.89 %
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Financial Services -46.46 +3.81 %

First number following bank name is year to date return, second number is net assets

on top of the wagon?

you beat me to it

that got other banks in trouble. I had my mortgage through them and the loan officer I worked with shook his head at the ways some institutions were playing the subprime game.

Citi, Chase and J.P. Morgan have all been expanding at huge rates, as well as WaMu , in the past few years.

Maybe they have stricter rules on their loans and don't have as many defaults? :shrug:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/09/15/business/20080916-treemap-graphic.html

AIG: October 2007, $179.8 billion September 12, 2008, $32.3 billion, 82% loss
Bank of America: October 2007, $236.5 billion September 12, 2008, $150.2 billion, 36.5% loss
Citigroup: October 2007, $236.7 billion September 12, 2008, $97.8 billion, 58.7% loss
(NOTE: Citigroup owns approximately $138 billion of Lehman Brother's debt -- these figures were calculated before the Lehman Brothers failure and will change substantially as a result.)
Merrill Lynch: October 2007, $63.9 billion September 12, 2008, $24.2 billion, 62.1% loss
Fannie Mae: October 2007, $64.8 billion September 12, 2008, $0.7 billion, 98.9% loss
Morgan Stanley, October 2007, $73.1 billion September 12, 2008, $41.1 billion, 43.8% loss

Wells Fargo: October 2007 $124.1 billion September 12, 2008 $113.2 billion 8.8% loss


I think they were more conservative with their loans, didn't get as messed up in the subprime loan business and just plain ran their business better.

and also haven't gotten too deep in the risky mortgage business.

Ever try to rob a stagecoach? It's not as easy as it looks.

He told me a year and a half ago they made no sub-prime loans or had any other creative products. He said they had consistently maintained the same standards for mortgage loan approvals.

18 months that banking personnel keeps getting younger and younger.

I remember when I was a six or seven year old in the fifties, and the bank VP's were all middle aged guys or older.

Now everyone in banking is in their thirties. We had one older local bank manager, at our Wells Fargo branch. We liked him very much and he was thrown out. And I doubt that he was more than 42 or 43.

house through them and they don't want to piss me off?

SO works for Wells Fargo and is closing thirty to forty loans a month! Handles re-locations and one other type of customer. Seems to be doing alright. In the Twin Cities.

(all my accounts except my mortgage are there). They said they saw the handwriting on the wall early and got out of the risky mortgage business. They concentrate on traditional banking practices.

Wells and BOA may end up the last two standing . . ,.