by Calculated Risk on 5/01/2009 10:27:00 PM

The Stress Test results will be released Thursday May 7th after the markets close.

Three banks failed today: America West Bank, Layton, Utah, Citizens Community Bank, Ridgewood, New Jersey (corrected - listed the purchasing bank), and Silverton Bank, National Association, Atlanta, Georgia. Silverton is an important bank - it had $4.1 billion in assets, and it was a correspondent banks - a bank for banks. From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

[Silverton Bank's failure] will ripple through the banking industry, which some industry experts said will have catastrophic consequences for banks across the Sun Belt as it impacts potentially hundreds of bank balance sheets.

Many small banks invested in Silverton, or Silverton sold them loan participation in mostly Construction & Development loans. The losses could lead to other bank failures.

Auto sales were very weak - just above the record low in February.

The Institute for Supply Management April 2009 Non-Manufacturing Report showed contraction in manufacturing, but contracting at a slow pace.

The National Multi Housing Council apartment survey showed conditions worsened (from landlords perspective) though the pace of deterioration is decelerating (a common theme: things are still getting worse, but at a slower pace).

And for those interested, here is a post comparing quarterly and monthly PCE data.

Jillayne Schlicke of RainCityGuide.com took this video at a foreclosure auction on April 24, 2009 in Bellevue, WA. The lady in yellow was just reading off addresses so Jillayne asked her what she was doing. It ends up these were postponements - properties that are probably in loan modification.