Selling A Piece Of The Federal Reserve
There is growing concern about where the Fed will get the hundreds of billions of dollars it will need to bail-out failing banks and brokerages. Most economists point to the tax-payer as the ultimate…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Verizon (VZ) Flanks The Cable Guys Again
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has started to give the cable companies fits with its new fiber-based TV and broadband services. The offering has all of the advantages of cable products and claims to have faster…
A 95% Off Sale At Big Banks (JPM)(UBS)
For reasons that are not entirely clear, JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) filed detailed information on the valuations of securities held by itself and other banks with a court in Canada. According to the FT…
A Harvest Of Pain: Q1 Earnings Estimates Revised Down
Optimistic securities analysts are starting to lose their nerves. According to the Reuters Estimates survey, Wall St. thinkers now believe that earnings for the S&P 500 will drop 5.5% in the first quarter of…
The Perverse Ethics Of Wall St., Countrywide (CFC) Refugees Turn Vultures
"There are no second acts in American lives"–F. Scott Fitzgerald Several former Countrywide (NYSE: CFC) executives are starting a new company, with the support of financial company Blackrock (NYSE: BLK) to buy troubled mortgages.…
JP Morgan Cries “Uncle” (JPM)(BSC)
Samson has been shorn of his locks and blinded. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), it appears, will raise its bid for Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) from $2 a share to $10. It is not necessary…
Media Digest 3/24/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to The New York Times, JP Morgan (JPM) is in talks to raise it bid for Bear Stearns (BSC) from $2 to $10. Reuters writes that analysts now see a steep drop in…
Asia Markets 3/24/2008
Markets in Asia were mixed and Hong Kong was closed for a holiday. The Nikkei fell a fraction to 12,480. Toyota (TM) was up 1% to 5270. Yahoo Japan was up 2.5% to 50500.…
Big Mergers For A Recession Economy, Do Firms Like Ford, Citigroup, and Sears Go Away?
"The current financial crisis is the most serious since the second world war, and perhaps since the Great Depression."–The London Observer, March 23, 2008 Many investors find it hard to believe that some of…
Letter From SEC Chairman Says Bear Stearns (BSC) Could Have Weathered Storm
In what is likely to be a bit of a blockbuster, SEC charman Christopher Cox sent a letter to Swiss regulators indicating the Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) did not have to go the way of…
Big Mergers For A Recession Economy
Many investors find it hard to believe that some of the largest companies in the country could be taken over and cease to be independent public companies. In a very deep recession, which the…
How Much Higher Will Bear Stearns Ultimately Fetch? (BSC, JPM)
The last 5 to 10 trading days have been dominated by Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC). Whether it was over the counterparties ceasing to accept their credit, whether it was the CEO publicly calling themselves…
More Pressure On Circuit City (CC) As It Exits S&P 500
Circuit City (NYSE: CC) will face more downward pressure on its shares when it is booted from the S&P 500 next week. A number of large institutional investors sell-off holdings in companies which are…
As Aloha Airgroup Files Chapter 11, The Market Frets About AMR (AMR)
Aloha Airgroup has filed for Chapter 11 citing high fuel prices and falling fares. With oil at $100 and both competition and a poor economy warring with ticket prices, the question is "who is…
The Largest Bail-Out In The History Of The World
Imagine that many of the world’s central banks went into the market and bought tens of billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities to help end the current financial crisis. The action would require that…
NYSE Short Interest: Investors Turn Against Finance And Auto Stocks
The short interest in most large stocks traded on the NYSE increased as measured on March 14. The figures compare to February 29. Car stocks were hit especially hard. Shares short in Ford (NYSE:…
Sign Of More Market Trouble: S&P Downgrades Goldman Sachs (GS) And Lehman (LEH)
After a week in which the market finally seemed to vote that big financial companies will be OK, S&P took the holiday to slam Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH). No one was…
IPO Filing: Zogenix, Inc. (ZGNX)
Zogenix, Inc. filed last night to come public via an initial public offering of up to $86.25 million in securities sales. The company has applied to take the ticker "ZGNX" on NASDAQ. Banc of…
Sirius (SIRI) Deal With XM (XMSR) Heads For The Barn
The FCC says it is getting closer to announcing its opinion of the Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) merger with XM Satellite (NASDAQ: XMSR). That may not be good news. The commission may turn the deal…
Sovereign Funds Bow Down To Paulson
Major sovereign funds from Singapore and Abu Dhabi have agreed to Boy Scout rules about keeping their investments in the US strictly financial. No political agendas. This is a copy of the new pact.…