Most of the steps taken by the Federal Government so far have been an attempt to prevent the current financial market crisis from getting worse, which would undoubtedly spill over to Main Street and the rest of the economy. The reason why there is a debate about whether we are in recession right now ... Read more

Thanks to the Fed's actions last week, Morgan Stanley (MS) has averted an emergency sale to Wachovia (WB), received permission to become a bank holding company, and has sold a minority stake to Japan's Mitsubishi. The company is going to try to remain independent, for now anyway. With the competit ... Read more

Thanks to the Fed's actions last week, Morgan Stanley (MS) has averted an emergency sale to Wachovia (WB), received permission to become a bank holding company, and has sold a minority stake to Japan's Mitsubishi. The company is going to try to remain independent, for now anyway. With the competit ... Read more

The SEC's 10-day ban on the short selling of financial stocks will undoubtedly spark a great debate on Wall Street, and the merits of the rule should be discussed, but let's be honest, the government had to do something. Morgan Stanley (MS) reported blow out earnings and a book value of $31 per sh ... Read more

The SEC's 10-day ban on the short selling of financial stocks will undoubtedly spark a great debate on Wall Street, and the merits of the rule should be discussed, but let's be honest, the government had to do something. Morgan Stanley (MS) reported blow out earnings and a book value of $31 per sh ... Read more

Is "panic" too strong of a word to describe the markets in recent days? I don't think so. Consider a couple of examples outside of the investment banking space: 1) Constellation Energy (CEG) My old utility company when I grew up in Baltimore, Constellation is the parent of Baltimore Gas & El ... Read more

Is "panic" too strong of a word to describe the markets in recent days? I don't think so. Consider a couple of examples outside of the investment banking space: 1) Constellation Energy (CEG) My old utility company when I grew up in Baltimore, Constellation is the parent of Baltimore Gas &amp ... Read more

The recent leg down in the markets has been due, in large part, to the fact that specific firms have been forced to seek individual solutions to survive, whereas before we were more focused on general economic statistics. We are attacking each one and the list I came up with above is almost compl ... Read more

People are correct when they point out that the market is forcing the stronger investment banks, Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS), to do a deal with a deposit institution even though they are making money and aren't liquidity strained. It is a shame, but when your business model requires s ... Read more

Have these people been alive and breathing in recent days? Hilarious... From the San Jose Business Journal: Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. shareholders have filed suit against the brokerage firm's chief executive, John Thain, and its board over Bank of America Corp. 's proposed ... Read more