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
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
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
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
Elizabeth MacDonald is the stocks editor for Fox Business Network. She is recognized as one of the top prize-winning business journalists in the country, and has received 14 awards, including the top prize in business journalism, the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Journalism, and the Newswomen's Club of New York Front Page Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism.
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April 17, 2008 11:32 AM EDT
Merrill Lynch's Neat End-Run
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
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