The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the board of Merrill Lynch (MER) is meeting to approve a $29 a share takeover offer from Bank of America (BAC). If the deal closes…
Douglas A. McIntyre The latest rumor in the swirl of news around the probable failure of Lehman (LEH) is that Bank of America (BAC) will buy Merrill Lynch for $26 a share. The most recent…
Douglas A. McIntyre Convinced that a Lehman (LEH) Chapter 11 could cause huge losses for other large financial institutions, the weakest players have become desperate to find partners or buyers. According to The Wall Street…
Lehman (LEH) may or may not open for trading on Monday morning. A number of experts believe that the broker’s problems must be resolved before Asia markets open, or that a panic…
According to Reuters, debt of Washington Mutual (WM) was cut to junk on a forecast of a $4.5 billion loss reserve. Reuters says that concerns about Lehman (LEH) spread to Merrill Lynch…
According to Reuters, Washington Mutual (WM) fell 30% to a 17-year low. Reuters reports that billionaire Carlos Slim has bought 6% of The New York Times (NYT). Reuters writes that Northrop Grumman…
There were more downgrades in financial stocks, but these were the larger names that saw estimates or ratings cut by analysts this morning: Bank of America (BAC) Cut to Underperform at KBW.…
According to Reuters, bond giant Pimco called for more governemt support for the financial system saying the the credit crisis could turn much worse. Reuters writes that Microssoft (MSFT) will begin its…
The evidence that sales at many companies are struggling and that employment will suffer are almost everywhere. Recently, a division of GMAC said it would let 5,000 people go. According to MSNBC,…
According to Reuters, NY State sent subpoenas to Bank of Americ (BAC) executives over auction-rate securities. Reuters reports the Boeing’s (BA) machinist union voted to strike but stay on the job two…
The Commerzbank buy-out of Dresdner Bank was not a shotgun wedding. Neither institution was failing. The severe balance sheet problems facing may other global money center banks were not an important consideration.…
Short sellers believe that they have seen the bottom for financial shares and exited the industry en masse. Shares sold short in Merrill Lynch (MER) fell 12.6 million to 42.3 million. Short…
Citigroup (C) cut is earnings estimates for Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Lehman (LEH). Today, Bank of America (BAC) cuts its earnings targets for Goldman and Morgan Stanley. Sanford Bernstein…
Why any bank which has undermined the value of its shares by poor management and taken billions of dollars in low-cost loans from the Fed would promote it environmental intiative is beyond…
Douglas A. McIntyre With nearly all of the top investment banks in a precarious financial position as a result of horrific investments in bad debt, banks have no shortage of things to worry about. But…
