After a savage day in which one Wall St. firm closed and another was sold, perhaps there might have been an evening’s respite. Lehman (LEH) has more than 25,000 employees, 20,000 of…
At one point Merrill Lynch (MER) was up to $22.68 because of Bank of America’s (BAC) buyout offer of $50 billion. Merrill closed at $17.05 on Friday. Wall St. is now so…
Covering financial stocks this morning looks a bit like an assassination happening live on television. Futures are being pulled sharply lower by the financial stocks melting down. We are going to skip…
A bail-out of Washinton Mutual (WM) could cost tax-payers another $24 billion. According to Bloomberg, Richard Bove, an analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., said the federal government may have to provide…
Douglas A. McIntyre Several of the world’s largest banks on working on assembling a $50 billion fund to offer capital to weaker financial companies as firms like Lehman (LEH), Merrill Lynch (MER), and Washington Mutual…
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…
AIG (AIG) as taken its turn in the penalty box today, joining Washington Mutual (WM), Lehman (LEH), and Merrill Lynch (MER). After after three quarters of significant write-offs, AIG is down 25%…
There are hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake if the current trends continue in the financial services sector. When you tally up the employment just at five troubled firms noted below,…
There are surprisingly few analyst calls today, but these are some of the top positive calls and upgrades with more than two hours to the market open: Diebold (DBD) Raised to Buy…
No one in his right mind wants to buy Washington Mutual (WM), but it does have some juicy pieces which would make nice additions at several other large financial firms. That leaves…
Douglas A. McIntyre 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…
Lehman (LEH) Dead or alive. Off to $3.79 from 52-week high of $67.73. Washington Mutual (WM) Will the bank make it? Plunges to $1.75 from 52-week high of $39.25. Merrill Lynch (MER)…
Douglas A. McIntyre With Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae (FNM), and Freddie Mac (FNM) fundamentally gone as independent institutions, the Treasury and Fed have turned their attention to Lehman (LEH) and Washington Mutual (WM). Nothing to…
Douglas A. McIntyre Short interest in a number of financial stocks moved up very sharply for the period ending August 29. Shares short in Washington Mutual (WM) rose 12% to 383 million. Short interest in…
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…
