August 2008

There are plenty of fights grabbing headlines these days. The Microsoft fight over Yahoo, the internal battles at Lehman, the fights in Congress over the fiscal recklessness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the debates over the Federal Reserve's ad hoc orchestration of the JPMorgan and Bear Stearns shotgun wedding. But another battle of a potentially larger sort has been looming that ... read more

In a focused effort to put yet another debacle in the rearview mirror fast, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch agreed to repurchase $17 bn in auction-rate securities to settle regulatory probes alleging they potentially defrauded investors by leading them to believe the securities were safe, liquid investments. But Wall Street's top bank analyst, Dick Bove of Ladenburg Thalmann, says Citigroup (C) ... read more

Lehman Brothers, the beleaguered Wall Street investment bank, must raise capital, sell as much as $50 bn in distressed debt securities, and cut its dividend by 90%, among other moves, to calm deep concern over its liquidity problems, says Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. analyst Richard Bove in a research note. Bove, a sharp-as-a-pencil numbers cruncher who is a top banking and brokerage analyst with ... read more

With oil prices dropping to less than $120 a barrel, its lowest price in three months, and the Federal Reserve not hiking interest rates, the Dow industrials rallied 331 points yesterday to 11615.77, its highest one day uptick since April 1 and a jump of 6% from the bearish July 15 low. The debate now is whether the oil markets will turn even more bearish and oil goes to $100.   But with ... read more

John Thain, having taken over the wreckage left by former chief executive Stanley O'Neal at Merrill Lynch, is now out defending himself against criticism of the nine statements he's made since December,  that Merrill Lynch was adequately capitalized--despite having to subsequently return to the markets to raise capital. Be careful of these statements, as well as anything said in the future. ... read more