So Merrill Lynch is being tried by the public markets today (and losing bad) for parking off balance sheet mortgage and other real estate packaged crap at hedge funds. It’s not proven, but you know they do this stuff.
I am looking for paper shredder stocks, because they must be flying off the shelves in manhattan today :) .
You know how I feel about this. These firms are well dressed crooks. The smartest ones.
In the end, this will be scrubbed clean, but who’s smart enough to call a bottom.
I am extremely tempted down at these levels to dip my toe in this great/tarnished financial brand. Merrill is now back at 1998 prices. Considering the global bull maket, that is simply quite amazing. Talk about underperformance.
I wish Goldman was back at $160 and Bkackstone at $20 because those would be the ones I would buy.
Disclosure – No positions
Go buy a condo in Tuscon for your kids college! That looks like a money maker.
Why would Merrill be any more tempting than C,WM,….. and I’m sure GS will look juicy again as well.
Mr. LINDZON !!!!
You are comparing what happened at Merrill … to ENRON ???!!!
Why … why … I … I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL, my good man !!!
If I win – you can’t write this shit about me anymore (even though it might be kind of true, ‘old bean’ … – doesn’t matter, you’ll be dead)
If YOU win … well it really doesn’t matter for me at that point, now does it? I’m dead.
If you win, just promise me one thing … No necrophilia … okay ??? … That happens to be a phobia of mine. Us rich guys all tend to have to strange phobias … and … well … that’s mine.
Okay, how does meeting next Tuesday for a duel in front of the Staten Island Ferry at 4:45pm sound? Ten paces, we turn, we shoot.
Ms. Campbell can referee the proceedings.
Be there or be square !!!
(I love saying that ! …)
MERRILL LYNCH CAUGHT IN NO PARKING ZONE — ALLEGEDLY
Could it get any worse. First, the CEO goes (at least with his $160/million). Now, MER is accused of trying to get some bad paper off the balance sheet by allegedly dumping the stuff on hedge fund(s) with the agreement to repurchase at some later date at same price with a vig.
I don’t know, and don’t want to know what to make of this. The market consequences are too scary. All i hear is (regarding the sub-prime contagion), we don’t know what we don’t know. The meaning is that mark-to-model is still favored over mark-to market. What we do know is that leverage built up over the past few years during the Greenspan era is overwhelming the financial system. It seem that some form of a bailout is inevitable.
From a market perspective, we have stated that it is hard to make the case for a sound market without the financials. The last few days trading kind-of accentuates that point.
its definitely be careful time.
Price action in tech and other sectors though are all green light.
Merrill’s will have got of lightly by the time this has all played out…. The only IB to come out smelling of roses is GS, yet again….. One name I haven’t heard from yet is JPM.