New Development

So I was checking my Fidelity accounts and saw that a new brokerage account was opened for me. I called Fidelity to ask why this new account has been opened without my approval. They said, “Sir, your employer, LEH, authorized it. They just have’nt told you yet. We don’t know what it is for. It has zero balance for now.” Well, this is it. LEH will not exist on Monday. RIP.

sid are you serious? That is really odd. I would be upset.

No jokes. You can confirm with other LEH employees too.

sniff sniff

Has anyone there discussed with you whether your job is secure, or that if there is a buyout from this nameless consortium what will happen to your position? First BSC, then FRE, now LEH…don’t think it’s over just yet. Until the short sellers get taught a serious lesson, this will continue. HF’s have been rooting out banks in precarious positions that need capital on an ongoing basis in order to survive and amassing huge short positions. Once those positions are large enough, the whisper campaign and media onslaught ensues. Ultimately, these banks made their own bed, and gambled their future for a few extra pennies on their quarterly report, but these bear raids have gotten ridiculous. I think they’ll leave GS and JPM alone, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they turned their guns on Merrill Lynch or UBS next. If they can damage these banks reputation enough so that they can scare off the sources of capital, and people are afraid to use them as a counter party, it’s all over.

Feds’ Lehman Plan Doesn’t Set Well With Street Execs Executives from the major Wall Street firms expressed reluctance at a plan by government officials to have each firm chip in money to buy Lehman Brothers’ troubled real estate portfolio, worried that even after Lehman, another firm might need a similar bailout as the financial crisis continues to wreak havoc among the big investment banks, CNBC has learned. Wall Street’s reluctance to the plan came to head during an emergency meeting Friday night when officials from the Federal Reserve asked members of Wall Street’s biggest firms, including Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan , John Mack of Morgan Stanley and John Thain of Merrill Lynch to play a role in the bailout of Lehman. Negotiations continued Saturday with top government officials, including Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner, but sources said a deal seemed unlikely before Sunday. Sources would not say whether there had been progress, only that the two sides were still talking. But government officials had been insisting a deal get done by Sunday. Given the complexity of any deal, it seemed likely the parties would take whatever extra time was available. The ongoing session harkened to a deal in 1998, when the big Wall Street firms chipped in billions of dollars in capital to save the troubled hedge fund Long Term Capital Management. But times have changed. In 1998, Wall Street was flushed with cash as the dotcom boom fueled underwriting revenues. Right now, Wall Street is in the middle of one of its most protracted profit droughts in years. Compounding the street problems, the LTCM bailout was an isolated incident. In addition to Lehman other Wall Street firms, such as Merrill Lynch, have soured real estate loans on their books and may suffered a similar loss of investor confidence as Lehman has in recent days, forcing the firm’s CEO Dick Fuld to begin scouring the financial world for a white-knight buyer. Troubled insurer American International Group has hired JP Morgan to raise additional capital and is raising funds from other sources in an effort to prevent a possible ratings dowgrade because if its troubled balance sheet. AIG may have to raise $20 billion or more to solve its problems in a plan that could be put together this weekend as well, CNBC has learned On Friday night, after the government finished out what one person with knowledge of the discussion described as the Fed’s “LTCM Plan,” an executive in the room pointedly asked, “What happens when there’s another one?” People with knowledge of the matter say the government provided no real answer other than to point out what they’ve been saying for the past three days as Lehman began to implode and look for buyers: There will be no government bailout of the firm, and if the street doesnt do something to help in the process, such as buying Lehman’s bad assets, a deal to sell the good part of Lehman will be difficult to complete. If Lehman is not sold, most analysts conclude it will likely be forced to file bankruptcy possibly as early as the end of this weekend. A bankruptcy filing could be catastrophic for the markets, given the size of Lehman’s balance sheet. Billions of dollars in trades would effectively be frozen, something that would almost certainly cause massive selling of stocks.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26680284

PeteyPete Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Has anyone there discussed with you whether your > job is secure, or that if there is a buyout from > this nameless consortium what will happen to your > position? > > First BSC, then FRE, now LEH…don’t think it’s > over just yet. Until the short sellers get taught > a serious lesson, this will continue. HF’s have > been rooting out banks in precarious positions > that need capital on an ongoing basis in order to > survive and amassing huge short positions. Once > those positions are large enough, the whisper > campaign and media onslaught ensues. Ultimately, > these banks made their own bed, and gambled their > future for a few extra pennies on their quarterly > report, but these bear raids have gotten > ridiculous. > > I think they’ll leave GS and JPM alone, but it > wouldn’t surprise me if they turned their guns on > Merrill Lynch or UBS next. If they can damage > these banks reputation enough so that they can > scare off the sources of capital, and people are > afraid to use them as a counter party, it’s all > over. Oh please. The short selling isn’t the cause but the effect.

i hate when people blame the shorts. its a sign of a poor mgmt team. look @ OSTK, recall that f***stik?

Maybe your paycheck is being paid in LEH stock. God help you.

daj224 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > i hate when people blame the shorts. its a sign of > a poor mgmt team. look @ OSTK, recall that > f***stik? I would never defend the resident paranoid dimwit over at OSTK, Pat Byrne, and his endless ramblings about Sith Lord’s manipulating his stock price. He’s insane, and the balance sheet is obviously the reason for the stocks bad performance. If there is intrinsic value, Mr. Market will eventually recognize it and the stock price will reflect it. As a trader myself, I make most of my money on the short side hitting bids. For years I scoffed at people who villanized short sellers and considered them fools, and in most cases they are. Also, in my experience, I can see how other traders can very easily “influence” the price of stocks. Ordinarily, this just creates opportunity as buyers step in and the short seller eventually covers their position; but the recent attack of banks represents something different. These companies are already in a precarious position and have weak balance sheets. Being levered to the sky, a few bad ticks, rumors, or bumps in the road in securing access to new capital will create a downward death spiral. Add Moody’s to the picture, who now includes “market sentiment” in their decision on how they rate debt offerings, and you can damage a company in a significant way w/out much in the way of capital (especially if your leveraged the way these hedge funds are). I didn’t believe it either, until I had a long discussion w/ a few big time analysts who have been in the game a long time (all CFA’s btw). They all pointed me to Martin Whitman’s quarterly reports explaining and outlining the actions of the “bear raiders”. The guy’s been a fixture on Wall Street and been a great value investor for longer than most of our grandparent have been alive. Read his 2nd Quarter Shareholder reports for his Value Fund http://www.thirdavenuefunds.com/taf/documents/shareholderletters/aboutus-letters-08Q2.pdf

read marty whitmans book, it is not bad…thx for letter, will print it out now and read it at halftime sunday

PeteyPete Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Add Moody’s to the picture, who now includes > “market sentiment” in their decision on how they > rate debt offerings, and you can damage a company > in a significant way w/out much in the way of > capital (especially if your leveraged the way > these hedge funds are). > Completely agree…that ones a complete loop Market Sentiment depends on ratings which depends on market sentiment… how does that even work?! If the rating agencies think the market is right…and downgrade because the market thinks its worth a downgrade…why do we need rating agencies at all?