Daily Archives: October 8, 2008

The Stock Market In The Emergency Room, The Fed Cutting Rates To A Negative 2%

FedPhysicians who spend time in emergency rooms are trained to work on the patient and separate themselves from his pain. Doctors have learned that they must diagnose and solve problems efficiently because there is little time to become attached to a patient and his problems.  Fixing the problem is the goal.

As patients come through the ER, doctors and nurses do their best to see that each person  gets the best care available, that no one gets special treatment, and that patients are either discharged to home or moved on to in- patient care. The sad fact is that some people cannot be helped much. They leave as ill as when they came to the ER.

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Posted on: October 8, 2008 – 4:59 am in Economy, , , , , ,

Why Do Citigroup (C) And Well Fargo (WFC) Want Wachovia (WB)

DataVikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup (C), should be so lucky as to have Wells Fargo (WFC) steal the buyout of Wachovia (WB) from him. Citi has gone into court asking $60 billion in damages because it feels it was robbed. It wants all of those Wachovia assets and the huge retail banking network that comes with them.

What Citi would also get is a tremendous Pandora’s Box of bad assets and toxic paper. The FDIC was willing to backstop some of this, but with the financial and mortgage markets falling apart, those guarantees may not be enough.

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Posted on: October 8, 2008 – 4:43 am in Banking, , ,

As UK Nationalizes Banks, US May Follow (MS)(BAC)(BCS)(HBC)

BritThe UK has begun a partial nationalization of its major banks. The move may well include some of Britain’s largest financial firms such as Barclays (BCS) and HSBC (HBC). The government views it as the only way to secure confidence in the banking system, even if it has to take substantial ownership in the institutions to accomplish that.

What the UK government will do with its shares over time is a mystery. Perhaps in several years, it can sell them back to the public. If they have any value.

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Posted on: October 8, 2008 – 4:28 am in Banking, , , ,

Media Digest 10/8/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

NewspaperAccording to Reuters, US markets fell to five-year lows.

Reuters writes that Wells Fargo (WFC) could end up with over 75% of Wachovia;s (WB) deposits.

Reuters reports that Morgan Stanley’s (MS) deal to get capital from Mitsubishi UFJ was approved by the government but MS shares fell as much as 35% on concerns about the deal.

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Posted on: October 8, 2008 – 2:48 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , ,

Asia Market 10/8/2008 Nikkei Falls 9%

JapAsia markets fell with some down 7% of more

The Nikkei dropped 9.4% to 9,203. Honda (HMC) fell over 10%. Nippon Steel lost 11.9 %. Mizuho Financial Group fell almost 8%.

The Hang Seng dropped 6.8% to 15,657. The Shanghai Composite was off 3% to 2,092.

In Europe the FTSE, DAXX, and CAC 40 all opened between 2.5% and 3.5%.

Data from Reuters

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 8, 2008 – 2:18 am in International Markets,