Wall Street – News Stories About Wall Street - Page 31

Investors Urge Reluctant Fed to Buy Mortgage Debt

Mar 24, 2008 12:50 PM CDT

Investors Urge Reluctant Fed to Buy Mortgage Debt

Critics say plan would put too much risk on taxpayers

(Newser) - The best way for the Fed to help reverse the sagging economy is for it to buy some of the $6 trillion in outstanding mortgage-backed securities that have Wall Street so nervous, investors say. The move would ease the credit crunch but put taxpayers at risk. It’s an option...

Lawmakers Gird for Battle Over Wall Street Reforms

Mar 23, 2008 8:04 AM CDT

Lawmakers Gird for Battle Over Wall Street Reforms

Dems, GOP split over regulation

(Newser) - Lawmakers are debating how to regulate and oversee financial institutions to prevent another Bear Stearns near-catastrophe. But exactly what that solution should look like depends on who's doing the proposing. President Bush and Wall Street say that Washington's heavy hand could hamstring the industry’s ability to innovate, reports the...

Hedge Funds Cash In
on Collapse of Bear

Mar 20, 2008 9:25 AM CDT

Hedge Funds Cash In on Collapse of Bear

Wagering the securities firm stock would fall paid off millions

(Newser) - The epic collapse of Bear Stearns didn't mean bad news for everyone on Wall Street—several big hedge funds made a mint off it, the Wall Street Journal reports. The funds essentially placed bets that Bear would stumble, then raked in millions when the security firm's shares took a nosedive....

Goldman Drops 53%,
Beats Analysts' Estimates

Earnings Report

Mar 18, 2008 7:54 AM CDT

Goldman Drops 53%, Beats Analysts' Estimates

Giant brokerage writes off $2.1 billion, sees revenues fall 35%

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs today beat analysts' dire predictions even though it reported a 53% drop in first-quarter profits—the worst falloff since 1999—after a $2.1 billion writeoff, reports Bloomberg. Analysts had expected the Wall Street brokerage to see profits drop more than 60%. Goldman said net income was $1....

Will Lehman Be the Crunch's Next Victim?

Mar 18, 2008 4:52 AM CDT

Will Lehman Be the Crunch's Next Victim?

Shaky confidence means its biggest fear may be fear itself

(Newser) - After a collapse of confidence sank Bear Stearns last week, some traders are betting that Lehman Brothers will be the next victim of the credit crunch. Its stock went on a rollercoaster ride yesterday—plunging 40% at one point and closing down 19%, the biggest fall since the firm went...

JP Morgan CEO Emerges as Wall Street Force

Mar 17, 2008 12:08 PM CDT

JP Morgan CEO Emerges as Wall Street Force

Dimon builds on rep for staying cool in a crisis

(Newser) - JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon is a hands-on boss who writes out a detailed to-do list each morning and has managed to keep his company healthy while many of its rivals are ailing or even critically ill, reports the Wall Street Journal. Dimon's focus has been on creating a...

Investors Ask: Who's Next?

Mar 17, 2008 6:54 AM CDT

Investors Ask: Who's Next?

Wall Street survived the near-collapse of Bear Stearns, but there's more trouble ahead

(Newser) - Wall Street, reeling over JP Morgan’s bargain-basement purchase of Bear Stearns, is anxiously watching to see “who’s next” to succumb to the continuing credit squeeze, reports the Financial Times. As investment banks prepare to release first quarter results this week—led by Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers...

JP Morgan Buys Bear
Stearns for $2 a Share

Mar 16, 2008 6:35 PM CDT

JP Morgan Buys Bear Stearns for $2 a Share

Deal rushed today to avoid filing for bankruptcy

(Newser) - JP Morgan has agreed tonight to buy Bear Stearns for a scant $2 a share, a bargain-basement price—stock closed at $30 a share—that demonstrates the urgency of staving off the collapse of the venerable investment bank and widespread panic in financial markets, the AP reports. The Bush administration...

Bernanke
Tosses Out
His Rule Book

Mar 16, 2008 9:19 AM CDT

Bernanke Tosses Out His Rule Book

As Wall Streets meltdown accelerates, the Fed chief adapts on the fly

(Newser) - With a recession and worsening meltdown on Wall Street looming, Fed chief Ben Bernanke has dumped textbook central bank economic policy, reports the New York Times. Last week's bailout of Bear Stearns, for example, seemed to fly in the face of his previous reluctance to rescue big institutions. And it...

Wounded Bear Scrambles
for a Savior

Mar 15, 2008 3:38 PM CDT

Wounded Bear Scrambles for a Savior

Stearns hopes to find a quick buyer in troubled times

(Newser) - What's next for Bear Stearns? A Wall Street institution for the better part of a century, it is now scrambling to find a buyer. Its best hope is JP Morgan, which provided a temporary lifeline yesterday along with the Fed. But other possible suitors include Citibank and HSBC, the Wall ...

JP Morgan, Feds
Bail Out Bear Stearns

Mar 14, 2008 9:25 AM CDT

JP Morgan, Feds Bail Out Bear Stearns

The investment bank's liquidity crisis forces it to ask for emergency help

(Newser) - Bear Sterns has reached out to rival JP Morgan Chase and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for emergency funding to reassure investors concerned about the struggling investment bank's deteriorating liquidity, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move is a startling indicator of how hard the subprime virus has...

Most Economists Say
Recession Is Here

Mar 13, 2008 5:00 PM CDT

Most Economists Say Recession Is Here

WSJ poll sees big shift toward the negative from survey five weeks ago

(Newser) - A cascade of bleak financial news has convinced most economists in a Wall Street Journal poll that the US is already in a recession. The results are markedly more negative than a similar survey only five weeks ago, and much of the foul mood can be traced to last week’...

Come Clean or Quit; Maybe Both

OPINION

Mar 11, 2008 12:35 PM CDT

Come Clean or Quit; Maybe Both

Should he go? What would it take to stay?

(Newser) - As Eliot Spitzer mulls his options, the editorial boards of the state's newspapers are weighing in:

Wall Street Journal: "The stupendously deluded belief that the sitting governor of New York could purchase the services of prostitutes was the last act of a man unable to admit the existence of,

...

Corporate America Revels in Spitzer's Fall

Mar 11, 2008 9:40 AM CDT

Corporate America Revels in Spitzer's Fall

Schadenfreude strikes onetime targets of 'Sheriff of Wall Street'

(Newser) - Wall Street is reveling in the fall of Eliot Spitzer, who as AG made exposing corruption highly personal, reports the Wall Street Journal. "He actually believes he's above the law," says ex-NYSE director Ken Langone, whom Spitzer sued for paying too much to the Big Board's CEO. "...

Fidelity Pays $8M in SEC Gift Scandal

Mar 5, 2008 10:20 PM CST

Fidelity Pays $8M in SEC Gift Scandal

Investor giant Peter Lynch fined $20K for procuring tickets to concerts, games

(Newser) - Investment guru Peter Lynch and Fidelity Investment settled SEC charges brought against them alleging that Lynch used Fidelity traders to procure tickets to high-profile concerts and sporting events. Lynch, vice chairman of Fidelity's parent company, agreed to pay $15,948 for the tickets, plus $4,183 in interest. Fidelity will...

Wall Street Faults Rules
on Writedowns

Mar 1, 2008 12:09 PM CST

Wall Street Faults Rules on Writedowns

Critics say accounting rules exaggerate losses, hinder market

(Newser) - After months of staggering writedowns battering Wall Street, some investors and executives are charging that accounting rules are exaggerating losses and triggering slumps like yesterday’s 315-point plunge in the Dow, reports the Wall Street Journal. Rules requiring companies to value holdings at current market rates, no matter how volatile,...

IBM to Buy Back $15B of Stock

Feb 26, 2008 3:04 PM CST

IBM to Buy Back $15B of Stock

Company raises its profit forecast

(Newser) - IBM will repurchase $15 billion of its own stock, it revealed today, leading the IT company to raise its profit forecast for the year to beat Wall Street predictions. The Armonk, NY-based computing giant will spend $12 billion on the buyback this year, the AP reports. The company told the...

Gore to Investors: Ditch Guzzlers

Feb 15, 2008 7:36 AM CST

Gore to Investors: Ditch Guzzlers

Costs risk market crash, he warns

(Newser) - Nobel prize-winner Al Gore yesterday urged financial leaders at a United Nations conference in Manhattan to unload their investments in businesses reliant on carbon-intensive energy. Gore likened such investments to the subprime mortgage market, warning that "the assumption you can safely invest" in business models that assume carbon is...

Time Warner Plans AOL Spin-Off

UPDATED

Feb 6, 2008 11:44 AM CST

Time Warner Plans AOL Spin-Off

New CEO also considers selling Time Warner Cable

(Newser) - In an effort to revive the company's slumping stock, Time Warner's new CEO plans to break up AOL, keeping its growing online ad properties, but unloading its increasingly obsolete dial-up Internet service provider. Operating income at AOL fell 70% in the fourth quarter, as the company continued to lose Internet-access...

European Markets Open Higher as
Asia Rallies

Feb 4, 2008 7:33 AM CST

European Markets Open Higher as Asia Rallies

Street's positive close has investors upbeat

(Newser) - European markets opened higher on the heels of a mining and technology stock rally in Asia and a positive close on Wall Street Friday, reports the AP. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged 8.1%, in part on news in state-run papers that the snow emergency in China was overblown....