April 2008

Who knew Liza Minnelli had it in her when she said the following: "Religion is for people who are afraid of hell--spirituality is for people who have been in it." That quote came to mind on the news that Jimmy Cayne, chairman of the disgraced Bear Stearns (BSC), was consulting Jewish tradition to learn life lessons about the near-death experience of his firm. As with most anyone who has ... read more

Could Bear Stearns (BSC) have survived if the Federal Reserve had opened its discount window to it sooner? The answer: Doubtful. Was it right to rescue Bear Stearns (BSC)? The answer: Yes. The dramatic details of the collapse of Bear Stearns, an 85-year old institution, will be taught in business schools for years to come. It's a tale still unfolding--it's a story that's a must read for ... read more

Top executives of Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) now say respectively that the financials are in the fourth quarter or ninth inning of the credit mess.  Yes, and all of the financials' profit reports are as sweetly fresh as lilacs after rain, and their stock prices are really not careening around worse than the Jamaican bobsled team. An admitted accounting geek, I have ... read more

Merrill Lynch's latest earnings report, which disclosed its third quarterly consecutive loss, saw wildly different ranges reported in the business media as to the size of its actual, total writedown.Merrill booked a $1.96b loss, but you may be confused seeing reports of anywhere from $6.6b to $9.7b in writedowns. My finance sources at Merrill walked me through the numbers, so did a PR staffer at ... read more

Some bad economic numbers out this week, a rise in jobless claims, and also the Federal Reserve said economic growth has slowed in 75% or nine of its 12 districts since February, up from two-thirds in its last report. So is the US economy headed for a national nervous breakdown? And when will we see the end of the Stygian gloom in the financial sector? Have we seen the worst of it? Before we ... read more