When Bank of America (BAC) bought Merrill Lynch, one huge retail brokerage team was married with a smaller one. Morgan Stanley (MS) will probably take over the Smith Barney unit of Citigroup…
If the government is going to force salary caps on banks, financial firms, and car companies that will get federal money, it needs to go further. The argument for limited pay at…
According to Reuters, Bank of America (BAC) and Merrill Lynch did agree on a bonus package for employees before the merger. There had been questions about the approval. Reuters reports that January…
The federal government has put $150 billion into rescuing AIG (AIG), which was once the most profitable insurance company in the world. With financial relationships linking it to banks and brokerages all…
According to Reuters, Nasdaq will turn to Asia for much of its future growth Reuters reports that the new bank bailout could cost as much as $2 trillion. Reuters writes that the…
Robert Rubin, former Goldman Sachs (GS) chief, Treasury chief, and lead director at Citigroup (C) should have been flying to Washington once a week last year. He could have thundered about bank…
Douglas A. McIntyre The shares in Wells Fargo (WFC) are up 22% to $19.76. The bank’s modest results are not the cause. There is optimism that the federal government will create a "bad bank" to…
Creating a "bad bank" is on the wish list of an extraordinarily large number of regulators and members of Congress. It is a sort of miracle cure to the problems in the…
Citigroup (C) walked away from buying a corporate jet for $50 million. It seemed, at first, that management and the board at the bank had done the right thing. But, the new…
Douglas A. McIntyre Short sellers placed large bets against the stock of tech companies for the period ending on January 15, taking a series of positions to gamble that firms like Microsoft (MSFT) and Cisco…
After taking heat yesterday, today Citigroup (NYSE: C) said it had no plans to take delivery of any new aircraft. Yesterday, news from the NY Post noted that Citi, fresh off receiving…
Douglas A. McIntyre Companies keep cutting dividends. Some are pressed for cash because of operating losses. Others are being constrained by higher debt service. Banks need to preserve capital. The problem is becoming big enough…
According to Reuters, American Express (AXP) earnings dropped 72% but still beat expectations. Reuters writes that Geithner was confirmed to be Treasury Secretary. Reuters reports that people lost confidence in business globally…
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative calls from Wall Street we have seen early this Monday morning with more than two and a half hours to the…
By many measures, the economy in the UK may be worse off than the US, at least up until now. The government has dealt with that by becoming more aggressively involved in…
