Blood on Wall Street

[royalfan5]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26709718

Lehman Brothers is toast, Merrill Lynch is selling out, and AIG is in a world of ****. Tomorrow isn't going to be pretty in the markets.

[tommieharris91]

Umm how much do you know about this Merril Lynch sale? When I heard about it I was completely shocked.

[Veritas]

Sorta makes you wanna run for the money markets.

[Okla-homey]

Buy GOLD!

[BudSooner]

Teddy????

[royalfan5]

Umm how much do you know about this Merril Lynch sale? When I heard about it I was completely shocked.

I knew they were falling apart fast, and I suppose they wanted to move while they could get a reasonable amount of cash for the shareholders.

[royalfan5]

Buy GOLD!

Gold is up today, but has slumped a lot since earlier in the year. It's at 780 today, but that is still significantly lower than it has been. As the commodity slump continues, I don't think gold will approach it's highs for awhile.

[Ike]

Okay...so what about frankensence then? Myrrh?

[swardboy]

How ironic that the bank sector is up 40% this year.

[tommieharris91]

I'm watching CNBC right now and everything is down except for gold and silver. Basically, if you have any assets at all, they probably lost money. RBOB Gasoline is about to hit limit down.

[Echoes]

Yeah. Bad bad deal, for sure. go go financial sectors.

[Veritas]

Guy that leases an office next to mine is a financial planner. Dude was in at oh dark thirty yesterday and today trying to do what he can for his people. Gawd I'm glad I got outta that business a decade ago.

[royalfan5]

Guy that leases an office next to mine is a financial planner. Dude was in at oh dark thirty yesterday and today trying to do what he can for his people. Gawd I'm glad I got outta that business a decade ago.
and I have an interview to be a financial planner in a couple of hours. Great day for it.

[tommieharris91]

I'm very surprised the dollar is trading stronger against the euro and sterling today. I heard there was a chance the Fed was going for an emergency rate cut yesterday.

[Veritas]

and I have an interview to be a financial planner in a couple of hours. Great day for it.
Things I learned while in that biz: don't try to pick stocks, stick with mutuals, and don't diversify everyone's money like you would yours. Granny is all about aggressive equity funds until she loses her ***. :)

[royalfan5]

Things I learned while in that biz: don't try to pick stocks, stick with mutuals, and don't diversify everyone's money like you would yours. Granny is all about aggressive equity funds until she loses her ***. :)
I'll keep that in mind today. This is my plan B if the top choices don't pan out, and/or there are complications with my non-compete agreement. I figure, I'd rather work and do something rather than sitting around waiting for that perfect job.

[Taxman71]

So, if you want to buy low and sell high, this is a good time to buy.....or you might be catching a falling knife.

[Hamhock]

I'll keep that in mind today. This is my plan B if the top choices don't pan out, and/or there are complications with my non-compete agreement. I figure, I'd rather work and do something rather than sitting around waiting for that perfect job.

fwiw, don't take your non-compete a face value.

[Oldnslo]

Non compete clauses in OK are tough to enforce unless they're correctly drawn, and just because it's a big company that drew up the contract doesn't mean it was done right.

[Hamhock]

Non compete clauses in OK are tough to enforce unless they're correctly drawn, and just because it's a big company that drew up the contract doesn't mean it was done right.

yep.

i've intentionally put stuff in a non-compete that i knew wasn't be held up by a court. the bet is that it will keep someone from even trying.

[Veritas]

fwiw, don't take your non-compete a face value.
I was going to say the same, rf5. Non-compete agreements in Nebraska are little more than posturing. I don't even bother having my people sign NCAs.

Look up attorney Paul Conley in Lincoln if you need some hole-poking done. He's reasonable (meaning he's ****ing expensive but not as bad as other attorneys) and he knows his ****.

[8timechamps]

I worked for Merrill for over 10 years. When I left (about two years ago, due to a spinal cord injury), I sold all of my ML stock. I got $98/share. I've watched it slowly fall since then.

ML, like other independant firms, were swimming in a pond with bigger fish (i.e. Banks). Someone at ML finally woke up and realized the banking sector isn't going away and can bring much needed financial life back to ML.

No doubt today is historic...Merrill Lynch was one of the last major independant firms.

[OklahomaTuba]

BRK.A.

You heard it here first.

[Hamhock]

BRK.A.

You heard it here first.

gee, you're really going out on a limb there.

[tommieharris91]

BRK.A.

You heard it here first.

You own any of that, Bruce?

[Hamhock]

i have a client that owns the b shares, just so he can go to the meeting. it's a carnival. i'm gonna go with one of these years.

[OklahomaTuba]

Seems like the B shares may be a good buy right now.

[Boomer.....]

Dow is down over 500 today. :(

[tommieharris91]

Dow is down over 500 today. :(

Heck, everything is down except gold and silver.

[BigRedJed]

Welcome to 1978!

[Chuck Bao]

I worked for Merrill for over 10 years. When I left (about two years ago, due to a spinal cord injury), I sold all of my ML stock. I got $98/share. I've watched it slowly fall since then.

ML, like other independant firms, were swimming in a pond with bigger fish (i.e. Banks). Someone at ML finally woke up and realized the banking sector isn't going away and can bring much needed financial life back to ML.

No doubt today is historic...Merrill Lynch was one of the last major independant firms.

Maybe you are right, 8timeschamps. CNBC news anchors or guest analysts were saying earlier the exact same thing - something about the investment banks needing the support and long-term financing of a deposit-taking institution. They were saying that it wasn't the business model. It was the financing.

What are they talking about? The business model was obviously very wrong and Lehman Brothers was way, way over-leveraged. If Lehman Brothers were attached to a bank, they would have probably taken the bank down with them.

In my humble opinion, investment banks should never be run like banks. Bigger asset size is not necessarily better and the exposure to derivative products is just silly, when they should just be in it for selling the silly (and now worthless) stuff.

On a side note, I think hedge funds have run amok and the products sold to hedge funds have correspondingly run amok.

Besides that, bankers usually can't successfully run brokerage firms. We are two separate animals. I’ve seen countless times when banks have taken over very successful brokers and immediately run them into the ground. I have no idea why.

And, why hasn’t Bank of America developed its own successful brokerage firm?

I really hate to see Lehman go down and Merrill get swallowed by a BoA.

You are definitely right, 8timeschamps. This is truly historic day and end of an era.

But trust me, bankers can’t run brokerage firms. A whole new generation of competitive brokerage firms will come up and do a good job. At least at first, they won’t be thinking about owning stuff, just doing a good job selling some stuff.

[OklahomaTuba]

Welcome to 1978!

http://www.grooveking.com/blog/uploaded_images/g-738997.jpg

Greed is Good.

[Chuck Bao]

http://www.grooveking.com/blog/uploaded_images/g-738997.jpg

Greed is Good.

Pedestrian or jogger? ;)

[royalfan5]

I'll keep that in mind today. This is my plan B if the top choices don't pan out, and/or there are complications with my non-compete agreement. I figure, I'd rather work and do something rather than sitting around waiting for that perfect job. So the interview was a total waste of time, except for the fact that I had met the guy interviewing me once before at a bachelor party where he was wasted and spent the whole night talking to me about random ****, and almost puking on my shoes. That didn't come up in the interview, but it was kind of funny to me at the time.

[8timechamps]

Maybe you are right, 8timeschamps. CNBC news anchors or guest analysts were saying earlier the exact same thing - something about the investment banks needing the support and long-term financing of a deposit-taking institution. They were saying that it wasn't the business model. It was the financing.

What are they talking about? The business model was obviously very wrong and Lehman Brothers was way, way over-leveraged. If Lehman Brothers were attached to a bank, they would have probably taken the bank down with them.

In my humble opinion, investment banks should never be run like banks. Bigger asset size is not necessarily better and the exposure to derivative products is just silly, when they should just be in it for selling the silly (and now worthless) stuff.

On a side note, I think hedge funds have run amok and the products sold to hedge funds have correspondingly run amok.

Besides that, bankers usually can't successfully run brokerage firms. We are two separate animals. I’ve seen countless times when banks have taken over very successful brokers and immediately run them into the ground. I have no idea why.

And, why hasn’t Bank of America developed its own successful brokerage firm?

I really hate to see Lehman go down and Merrill get swallowed by a BoA.

You are definitely right, 8timeschamps. This is truly historic day and end of an era.

But trust me, bankers can’t run brokerage firms. A whole new generation of competitive brokerage firms will come up and do a good job. At least at first, they won’t be thinking about owning stuff, just doing a good job selling some stuff.

Very good insight!

IF B of A lets Merrill run it's own show, I think it could greatly benefit both sides. We lost a lot of business to banks for no other reason than they have a brick and mortar foundation. You'd be amazed by the number of millionaires that went with a bank for their brokerage business just because they could walk into a branch and mke deposits, use an atm, have access to a drive thru, etc.

Many banks also realized that trying to be a Wall Street brokerage firm was stretching them thin.

Time will tell how it all turns out.

To address your note about the hedge funds out there...I was thinking the same thing about 3 years ago. There was a time when hedge funds truley offered a way to diversify out of the markets and know what you were putting your money in...I think those days are gone...for now anyway.

It's a function of marketing. If hedge fund A can offer something that hedge fund B doesn't offer, they know there are investors out there willing to go with them.

As for the current state of the market...as crazy as it sounds, this is the best time to be putting money in. If you have an option to redirect money in your 401(k) or other qualified retirement plan, I would move it all to equity for the time being. Of course a disciplined approach and long term allocation that suits your risk tolerance is the best way to grow your money. (heh, that sounded a lot like a disclaimer).