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The Rush to Regulate Credit Default Swaps

Sep 25, 2008 @ 11:39 AM By Ivy Schmerken,

It seems like politicians, regulators and even the average Joe on the street now knows something about credit derivatives. These complex instruments are being blamed for the near meltdown in the financial system. No one outside of the credit markets paid much attention to credit default swaps or CDS until they threatened Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

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The Real Cure for Naked Short Selling

Sep 22, 2008 @ 01:14 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

One of our readers has commented on the story "SEC Bans Short Selling in Financial Stocks in Wake of Criticims," posted , Friday. Here's what the reader had to say:

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Lehman’s Rescue and Barclays’ Reversal

Sep 17, 2008 @ 11:51 AM By Ivy Schmerken,

Only a few days ago Lehman Brothers employees were clearing out their desks and saying tearful goodbyes to their colleagues and associates across the street. But in an odd twist of fate, yesterday, Barclays plc agreed to buy Lehman’s U.S. brokerage unit for $1.47 billion.

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Lehman Gets a Second Chance

Sep 17, 2008 @ 11:16 AM By Kerry Massaro,

Another big day in the market. Lehman Brothers capital markets division is getting a second chance through the acquisiton by Barclays. It seems like a great fit, and a great deal for Barclays who will in one week raise its presence in the U.S. capital markets by unprecedented levels.

There are still many questions to be asked. Will all 10,000 Lehman Brothers employees retain their jobs? How will the operations be integrated in regards to both business and technology?
Will Lehman’s capital markets business remain in tact?

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Lehman-Merrill: What Was Your Reaction?

Sep 16, 2008 @ 12:37 PM By Kerry Massaro,

I think I’m still in shock over the weekend's events. I finally adjusted to a world without Bear Stearns, but I can’t really fathom that the capital markets also will be without Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

Beyond experiencing disbelief, the industry was deeply saddened that the credit crisis has taken a toll on so many good firms and good people. Merrill Lynch has 60,000 employees and Lehman 25,000 -- what will become of them?

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More on Lehman’s Bankruptcy and NYSE Specialist Operations

Sep 16, 2008 @ 11:30 AM By Ivy Schmerken,

This came across my desk yesterday from NYSE Euronext, which explains how Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy filing will impact its specialist operations on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor.

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A Wild Weekend Ends with Lehman’s Collapse and Merrill’s Sale

Sep 15, 2008 @ 01:04 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

We all woke up this morning – or went to bed last night at midnight — to find that the Wall Street world as we know it has forever changed with Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch being sold to Bank of America. Some media outlets are calling this a Wall Street meltdown of iconic brands. I’m not sure what to call it. It is an unbelievable turn of events and a sad end to the history and culture of these firms.

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The New Breed of Hyperactive Traders

Sep 14, 2008 @ 05:16 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

Last week, I visited Lightspeed Trading, a direct access brokerage firm that caters to the hyperactive retail trader with institutional caliber technology and trading tools. On that day, many of the traders were focusing on the financials and anything to do with Lehman, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and as well as the price of oil, such as transportation stocks.

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Wall Street's Reaction to Lehman's Announced Losses

Sep 11, 2008 @ 08:48 AM By Kerry Massaro,

On the day after Lehman Brothers announced $3.9 billion in losses and said it would shed its commerical real estate holdings as well as sell its investment management business, Wall Street reacts:

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Lehman to Reposition Assets amidst Losses

Sep 10, 2008 @ 09:48 AM By Kerry Massaro,

In a conference call this morning Lehman Brothers announced that it expected a loss of $3.9 billion, or $5.92 a share, in the third quarter after $5.6 billion in write-downs. The firm also said it plans to spin off its commercial real estate holdings into a separate public company as well as sell the majority of its investment management business to raise approximately $3 billion. The majority of Lehman's investment management division came from the acquisition of Neuberger Berman in 2003.

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Trading Performance in Dark Pools Declines After 30 Minutes

Sep 4, 2008 @ 12:12 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

I sat in on a media briefing that ITG conducted this morning looking at whether trading in dark pools adds value in terms of transaction costs. In a study, ITG analyzed the trading performance of one-time matching compared to continuous crossing versus liquidity aggregation.

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