Originally published Friday, July 25, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Business Digest
Capital concerns batter WaMu stock
Pacific Northwest Shares of Washington Mutual sank further Thursday, as the ailing thrift was forced to deny an analyst's contention that...
Pacific Northwest
Banking
Shares of Washington Mutual sank further Thursday, as the ailing thrift was forced to deny an analyst's contention that the company faced a cash crunch.
Kathleen Shanley of bond-research firm Gimme Credit noted that two sources of short-term cash for WaMu — borrowings from other banks in what's called the federal funds market, and notes called commercial paper — fell to $75 million in the second quarter, from $2 billion at the end of 2007 and $3.4 billion a year ago.
In addition, securities sold under agreements to repurchase are down to $214 million, from $9.4 billion a year earlier, and other borrowings were $30.6 billion versus $40.3 billion in December.
All that, Shanley said, suggests that lenders are shying away from WaMu.
WaMu, though, has said that between the $7.2 billion it raised in April, its $181.9 billion deposit base and available Federal Home Loan Bank advances, it has little need to borrow funds.
"As we stated publicly months ago, WaMu funds all of its business through its banking operations and does not rely on commercial paper," the bank said in a statement.
Nonetheless, WaMu stock lost 62 cents, or 13.3 percent, closing at $4.03 Thursday.
Wireless
AT&T opposed to network venture
AT&T urged regulators to reject Sprint Nextel's proposal to combine its high-speed wireless network with Clearwire.
![]()
An application the companies filed with the Federal Communications Commission last month is "fatally defective" because it understates the amount of wireless airwaves the venture would control, AT&T told the FCC Thursday in a petition.
Sprint and Kirkland-based Clearwire plan to build a nationwide wireless network that offers faster Internet downloads than AT&T and Verizon Wireless now offer for mobile devices. Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks plan to invest $3.2 billion in the venture.
Compiled from Seattle Times business staff and Bloomberg News
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Q&A : He's tangled up in Windows partitions
Practical Mac: With new features, Apple's MobileMe is worth the price
UPDATE - 08:48 PM
House narrowly passes landmark health care bill

Mourners gather at KeyArena for slain officer's memorial
Mourners gathered at KeyArena for the memorial service of Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton on November 6, 2009.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- Suspect in officer's slaying shot by police
- Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
- Flags were key link to cop slaying, bombings
- Mourners gather at KeyArena for slain officer's memorial
- Briefs | Soccer: New Mexico suspends hair-pulling player Elizabeth Lambert
- McGinn pulling away as late ballots come in
- Thunder and lightning again lighting up sky
- Datsun 210 sought in police shooting
- Voters expand same-sex rights
- Details emerge about Fort Hood suspect's history
- UCLA game thread
934 - Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
389 - Weapons, bomb-making materials found in suspect's apartment
305 - Troubling portrait emerges of Fort Hood suspect
283 - McGinn widens lead over Mallahan in Seattle mayoral race
179 - Decision day for health care in the House
123 - Schools emerge as new tactic in gay marriage votes
97 - Huskies suffer another heartbreaking loss to UCLA
80 - Referendum 71 show's Washington's strategy for marriage equality is working
69 - Using anti-shooter tactics, civilian Army police officer brought down gunman
69
- Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
- Recipe: Penne with Smoked Turkey Sausage
- Suspect in officer's slaying shot by police
- Flags were key link to cop slaying, bombings
- Nancy Leson | An elegant offshoot of Seattle's Wild Ginger in Bellevue
- Voters expand same-sex rights
- Shoreline man killed when struck by falling tree part
- Tim Lincecum charged with misdemeanor possession
- Green River Valley: Anxiety ebbs over flooding potential
- Do It in a Day | Spend a cozy, homey day in Edmonds





