There’s plenty of blame to go around for the ongoing financial crisis, from Alan Greenspan to Wall Street CEOs to regulators. But let’s stop for a moment and give some positive feedback where it’s due: Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. …
The combination of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch looks to create a powerhouse in the all-important investment banking league tables, topping current front-runner JP Morgan with, for example, 141 deals to JP Morgan’s 125, in global equity underwriting.
Together, they make the top underwriter for global debt, equity and equity-related transactions since the start of this year.
–Data from Matthew Toole, Thomson Reuters.
Updated from 10:21 a.m. EDT After saying this weekend it would not rescue AIG, the Federal government reversed course Tuesday evening and declared the insurance giant too big to fail.
The Wall Street investment banking model is being tested. No, it’s broken. No, it’s been broken for a while and the bailout of Bear Stearns and the demise of Lehman show that it’s on the mend…
Views are coming in from across the spectrum as financial world commentators join the markets and try to piece together what the busy weekend on Wall Street will mean for stocks and the shape of the financial services industry.
Thestreet.com’s voluble Jim Cramer declares: “Nobody from the Fed has gotten ahead of this problem.” How can the Federal Reserve not cut interest rates “right now?”
Market strategist Barry Ritholtz, blogging in The Big Picture , says a cut “would be ill advised … Why on earth the FOMC would want to undue any of the work by Treasury with a rate cut? That is the current market bet, that a 25 or even 50 basis cut may occur at tomorrow’s Fed meeting.” The Fed should keep its powder dry, he concludes.
Arnold King at Econlog says he’s thinking about the Fed simply as the “the lender of last resort” today. He adds: “For the stock market, I’d say if it only drops 3 or 4 percent and stays open all day, I would count that as a win.”
Paul Kedrosky at Infectious Greed is on watch for signs of blaming the short-sellers. A “one-sided piece in today’s NY Times is a good example of something we are likely to see,” he says.
Calculated Risk pulled from a transcript from Bank of America’s CEO this morning on his expectation for a tough 2008-2009 in financial services and a key comment from Merrill’s John Thain, that “as we go forward, size is going to matter, so the ability to have a diversified stream of earnings, the ability to maintain high degrees of funding certainty are going to continue to be very important.”
And beyond New York, economics professor Greg Mankiw writes that he gives his introductory lecture at noon today for Harvard students and notes that he’d like to “thank all my friends on Wall Street for doing so much to spark interest in economic issues.”
What’s your view on what the Fed should or shouldn’t do next?
This month has brought a series of cataclysmic events involving Wall Street firms: the nationalization of Fannie and Freddie, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch’s sale to Bank of America and, now, the Fed’s
The timing could have been better for the luxury car show at the World Financial Center in New York, home to Merrill Lynch & Co.
The Motorexpo opened on Monday — the morning after Merrill employees were shocked to hear their company was being bought by Bank of America, marking the end of the storied name in American finance.
Nikki Gold, a promoter for the Motorexpo, handing out brochures at the entrance to Merrill’s headquarters, said “A lot of people are in a really sour mood — the people you expect to take the brochures aren’t taking them.”
Those who did take the brochures joked about it, she said.
“They say things like: ‘Good luck with the Expo!’, ‘Don’t know if I can afford this now’, ‘We’ll see if we have a job tomorrow’” she said.
The Motorexpo features Aston Martins, Bentleys and Porsches — but the luxury cars weren’t getting much attention on Monday as Merrill employees were very much focused on other things.
Updated from 6:44 p.m. EDT The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged at its policy meeting Tuesday, but don’t confuse that with a lack of action on its part. The Fed has taken extraordinary actions in recent day t
Lehman Brothers employees carried out boxes of their possessions on Sunday night in New York as bankruptcy became inevitable. View the rough cut video from Reuters.
Both John McCain and Barack Obama responded quickly to the turn of events on Wall Street this week:Early Monday, McCain said “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” but are threatened by greed on Wall Street. He released a new ad saying &
The combination of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch looks to create a powerhouse in the all-important investment banking league tables, topping current front-runner JP Morgan with, for example, 141 deals to JP Morgan’s 125, in global equity underwriting.
Together, they make the top underwriter for global debt, equity and equity-related transactions since the start of this year.
–Data from Matthew Toole, Thomson Reuters.
While New York is obsessed with the drama on Wall Street, Main Street America is much more concerned with oil prices and the housing market, says Seagate CEO William Watkins.Watkins was largely upbeat about Seagate’s prospects because of the growth of dig
The Wall Street investment banking model is being tested. No, it’s broken. No, it’s been broken for a while and the bailout of Bear Stearns and the demise of Lehman show that it’s on the mend…
Views are coming in from across the spectrum as financial world commentators join the markets and try to piece together what the busy weekend on Wall Street will mean for stocks and the shape of the financial services industry.
Thestreet.com’s voluble Jim Cramer declares: “Nobody from the Fed has gotten ahead of this problem.” How can the Federal Reserve not cut interest rates “right now?”
Market strategist Barry Ritholtz, blogging in The Big Picture , says a cut “would be ill advised … Why on earth the FOMC would want to undue any of the work by Treasury with a rate cut? That is the current market bet, that a 25 or even 50 basis cut may occur at tomorrow’s Fed meeting.” The Fed should keep its powder dry, he concludes.
Arnold King at Econlog says he’s thinking about the Fed simply as the “the lender of last resort” today. He adds: “For the stock market, I’d say if it only drops 3 or 4 percent and stays open all day, I would count that as a win.”
Paul Kedrosky at Infectious Greed is on watch for signs of blaming the short-sellers. A “one-sided piece in today’s NY Times is a good example of something we are likely to see,” he says.
Calculated Risk pulled from a transcript from Bank of America’s CEO this morning on his expectation for a tough 2008-2009 in financial services and a key comment from Merrill’s John Thain, that “as we go forward, size is going to matter, so the ability to have a diversified stream of earnings, the ability to maintain high degrees of funding certainty are going to continue to be very important.”
And beyond New York, economics professor Greg Mankiw writes that he gives his introductory lecture at noon today for Harvard students and notes that he’d like to “thank all my friends on Wall Street for doing so much to spark interest in economic issues.”
What’s your view on what the Fed should or shouldn’t do next?