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• Damaging the market by curbing short-selling

  Posted Jul 16 2008, 05:35 AM by Douglas McIntyre
  Filed under: Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros

  Newly-minted legend says that short-selling put Bear Stearns out of business and has swamped the stock prices of Lehman , Fannie Mae , and Freddie Mac. To keep evil from further invading the stock markets, short-selling should be put to sleep.

  According to The Wall Street Journal, "In a dramatic emergency order, the SEC said it would immediately move to curb improper short selling in the stocks of struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as those of 17 financial firms, including Goldman Sachs Group, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch."   Read More...

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• Looking at the week ahead: June 16-20

  Posted Jun 13 2008, 03:29 PM by Andrew Horowitz
  Filed under: Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Best Buy, Andrew Horowitz
  Rating:

  There are only a few sectors that may be considered healthy in an otherwise sickly market these days. Energy is one sector that has investors smiling. While there is still a great deal of ongoing investigation being done into the potential manipulation of energy prices by speculators, shares of most companies within the oil sector have been continuing to climb as the higher level of oil prices will ultimately help their profits. Surely there will come a time when prices are high enough to push corrective legislation along with a hope for a fundamental change in America’s ideals concerning oil consumption.
  
  Technology has also been somewhat immune from much of the horror that we have seen in many of the market sectors and this week ‘s earnings starts with a longtime industry leader, Adobe. (Listen to The Disciplined Investor Podcast #61 as we will be discussing technology with guests John C. Dvorak and Leo Laporte) Here's a look at upcoming earnings and economic factors that could drive the markets next week   Read More...

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• Citigroup sees $9 billion write-downs at investment banks

  Posted Mar 10 2008, 04:30 PM by Douglas McIntyre
  Filed under: Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs
  Rating:

  The first quarter should be another brutal right of passage for big investment banks. Citigroup is forecasting that they will have to write-down another $9 billion in Q1. According to Reuters the damage will be "primarily driven by additional leveraged loan and mortgage-related losses."

  Among the hardest hit firms will be Goldman Sachs which is facing as much as a $3.2 billion write-off, Merrill Lynch, which may post $2.9 billion in write-downs, and Morgan Stanley where the figure could be as high as $1.2 billion.

  If the numbers are correct, it may open the door for another round of raising funds for the brokerages. Now that most of them have called on sovereign banks overseas, it will be essential that U.S. private equity firms or Treasury help them out of the mounting mess.   Read More...

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