Goldman Sachs stock realtime chart
http://realtimecharts.blogspot.com/2007/09/investment-bank-chart.html
Somewhere in the wreckage of securities backed by subprime mortgages and the resulting seizure in the credit markets, is a new paradigm on Wall Street where Goldman Sachs Group Inc., increasingly perceived as the world's biggest hedge fund, will report record earnings for 2007.
While Goldman, the largest securities firm by market value, insists that it caters to the needs of clients and has never been anything but customer-driven, New York-based Goldman also is considered No. 1 in proprietary trading and manages more hedge funds than anyone except JPMorgan Chase & Co.
And like Paulson & Co., Harbinger Capital Partners and Hayman Advisors LP, which are posting their highest returns when so many conventional financial institutions are reeling from subprime investments, Goldman profits substantially from allowing its traders to use the firm's capital to speculate on whether the price of assets will fall or rise.
``The real world is much better than what we're reading in the headlines,'' said Michael Holland, who oversees more than $4 billion at Holland & Co. in New York. ``Many more billions are being made on the positive side than are being lost.''
Goldman may be the most prominent example of the transformation of the securities firm that behaves more like a hedge fund. Like New York-based Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also will report record earnings this year, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) --
Showing posts with label Goldman Sachs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goldman Sachs. Show all posts
Monday, October 8, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Goldman Net Tops Estimates; Bear's Drops 61 Percent
Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported the third-best profit in its 138-year history after betting against the mortgage bonds that roiled credit markets and left Bear Stearns Cos. with its biggest earnings decline in more than a decade.
The world's largest securities firm said net income rose 79 percent in the third quarter to $2.85 billion, or $6.13 a share, beating the highest analyst estimate by more than 20 percent. Earnings at Bear Stearns fell 61 percent to $171 million, or $1.16 a share.
Goldman said mortgage profits rose ``significantly,'' after wagering correctly that prices of securities tied to home loans would decline. While Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein also doubled revenue from equities and reaped record investment- banking fees, his counterpart at Bear Stearns, James ``Jimmy'' Cayne, floundered in the market turmoil as bad mortgage bets saddled the firm with $200 million of hedge fund losses.
``They're apples and oranges,'' said William Fitzpatrick, who helps oversee more than $1 billion at Johnson Asset Management in Racine, Wisconsin. ``If there was ever a time that's going to show up, it's going to be here, when the U.S. fixed-income market is deteriorating. Goldman has other businesses to offset that, and Bear definitely doesn't.''
Revenue rose 63 percent to $12.3 billion, Goldman said in a statement today. Return on equity, a measure of how effectively the firm reinvests earnings, was 31.6 percent. Bear Stearns's return on equity was 5.3 percent.
Blankfein Premium
Samuel Molinaro, Bear Stearns's chief financial officer, said on a conference call that ``the worst is definitely behind us.'' Investors remain skeptical. The firm's shares have dropped 29 percent this year and trade at only 1.3 times book value, down from more than 2 as recently as February.
Goldman's price-to-book ratio is about 2.5, illustrating the premium shareholders are willing to pay for its assets and the leadership of Blankfein, who turns 53 today.
``They dominate the business in so many different ways,'' said Michael Vogelzang, who helps manage $2.3 billion, including Goldman shares, as president and chief investment officer at Boston Advisors LLC. ``Goldman will tell us what the state of the industry is because they have their hands in most of this stuff.''
Morgan Stanley, Goldman's largest rival, and Lehman also reported profit declines this week. Goldman got an added boost from an extra-long reporting period. The firm, which closes its books on the last Friday of the month, ended the third quarter on Aug. 31, compared with Aug. 25 last year.
Fed Relief
Investors are betting that pressure on the securities industry will ease in future quarters now that the Federal Reserve has lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point. When overnight interest rates decline, banks can make money by borrowing cheap and investing in longer-term assets with higher yields.
Shares of the five largest Wall Street firms have advanced since the Fed's Sept. 18 cut. They fell today, with Bear Stearns dropping 18 cents to $115.46 as of 4:02 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange. Goldman fell $1.97 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $203.53.
``We think that the outlook for our businesses is pretty good,'' Goldman CFO David Viniar said in an interview today. Goldman has no plans to slow hiring, he said.
Revenue in Goldman's fixed income, currency and commodities division, the firm's largest, rose 71 percent to a record $4.89 billion -- even after $1.48 billion of losses for marking to market the value of non-investment grade credits.
Beating Estimates
Analysts had expected Goldman to earn $4.35 a share, the average estimate of 18 surveyed by Bloomberg. The high estimate was $5.08. In the year-earlier period, Goldman's profit was $1.59 billion, or $3.26 a share.
``The numbers are great,'' Glenn Schorr, an analyst at UBS AG in New York, wrote in a note to investors today. The earnings demonstrate Goldman's ``ability to not only navigate choppy waters, but make a ton of money doing so,'' he said.
Viniar said hedging and fee income reduced the markdowns from $2.4 billion and ``substantially all'' of the losses were for loans to finance leveraged buyouts. Goldman ended the quarter with $42 billion of unfunded LBO commitments, down from $51 billion on June 1.
Lehman and Bear Stearns each recorded $700 million of losses on similar markdowns and Morgan Stanley's totaled $877 million.
Mortgage Magic
Under Dan Sparks, Goldman's New York-based head of mortgages, the firm profited from short positions that anticipated declining loan values. Goldman made money in part by entering into contracts tied to ABX indexes, which reflect the perceived risk of mortgage defaults. The gains more than offset losses from writedowns on Goldman's inventory of non-prime home loans and related securities.
``There are going to be opportunities in the mortgage business,'' Viniar said on a call with analysts and investors. ``There are certainly going to be opportunities to buy distressed assets. It's something we're certainly looking at.''
Blankfein warned at a June conference that ``a very big crisis in the credit markets'' was the ``biggest risk we face.'' He also said Goldman was ``organizing ourselves like the market is undervaluing risk and so we are in a high state of nervousness.''
Hedge Fund Collapse
Cayne, 73, failed to anticipate the collapse in demand for mortgage-related securities after default rates on subprime loans surged earlier this year. Two Bear Stearns hedge funds that invested in mortgage debt collapsed in June and ultimately went bankrupt, leaving the firm with the $200 million of losses and expenses.
Goldman also benefited from a strategy of buying and selling companies like it does stocks and bonds. Fixed-income revenue included a $900 million gain on Goldman's $2.15 billion sale of Horizon Wind Energy LLC to EDP-Energias de Portugal SA in July.
The firm had similar gains in previous quarters, on a New Jersey power plant and Japan's Accordia Golf Co. Yesterday, Goldman's Cogentrix subsidiary sold 80 percent of its share in 14 power plants. Viniar declined to say how much Goldman may gain on that transaction.
Investment-banking revenue at Goldman rose 67 percent to $2.15 billion. The firm arranged $255 billion of takeovers completed during the third quarter, 78 percent more than a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman also managed $11.5 billion of equity offerings during the quarter, more than twice as much as a year earlier, Bloomberg data show.
Equity Trading
Equity-trading revenue more than doubled to $3.13 billion on higher commissions, gains on proprietary bets and increased demand for derivatives. Goldman's principal-investments unit, which holds stakes in companies including Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, had $211 million of revenue, down 51 percent from a year earlier.
Revenue in the asset management and securities services unit rose 35 percent to $1.96 billion, even after two of Goldman's largest hedge funds declined by more than 20 percent in August. The firm said a 40 percent increase in management fees more than made up for a drop in its share of fund profits.
The Global Equity Opportunities fund fell 23 percent in August, its steepest monthly decline ever. Global Alpha, Goldman's biggest hedge fund, dropped 22.5 percent for the month and is down 34.9 percent this year. Viniar said investors have notified Goldman that they plan to withdraw $1.6 billion from Global Alpha, redemptions that will leave the fund with about $4.5 billion to $5 billion in assets.
Goldman injected $2 billion into Global Equity Opportunities on Aug. 13 and raised $1 billion more from outside investors to keep the fund solvent. The fund rose 16 percent from the day of the investment and the end of the quarter, Viniar said. Goldman has no plans to add cash to Global Alpha, he added.
The world's largest securities firm said net income rose 79 percent in the third quarter to $2.85 billion, or $6.13 a share, beating the highest analyst estimate by more than 20 percent. Earnings at Bear Stearns fell 61 percent to $171 million, or $1.16 a share.
Goldman said mortgage profits rose ``significantly,'' after wagering correctly that prices of securities tied to home loans would decline. While Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein also doubled revenue from equities and reaped record investment- banking fees, his counterpart at Bear Stearns, James ``Jimmy'' Cayne, floundered in the market turmoil as bad mortgage bets saddled the firm with $200 million of hedge fund losses.
``They're apples and oranges,'' said William Fitzpatrick, who helps oversee more than $1 billion at Johnson Asset Management in Racine, Wisconsin. ``If there was ever a time that's going to show up, it's going to be here, when the U.S. fixed-income market is deteriorating. Goldman has other businesses to offset that, and Bear definitely doesn't.''
Revenue rose 63 percent to $12.3 billion, Goldman said in a statement today. Return on equity, a measure of how effectively the firm reinvests earnings, was 31.6 percent. Bear Stearns's return on equity was 5.3 percent.
Blankfein Premium
Samuel Molinaro, Bear Stearns's chief financial officer, said on a conference call that ``the worst is definitely behind us.'' Investors remain skeptical. The firm's shares have dropped 29 percent this year and trade at only 1.3 times book value, down from more than 2 as recently as February.
Goldman's price-to-book ratio is about 2.5, illustrating the premium shareholders are willing to pay for its assets and the leadership of Blankfein, who turns 53 today.
``They dominate the business in so many different ways,'' said Michael Vogelzang, who helps manage $2.3 billion, including Goldman shares, as president and chief investment officer at Boston Advisors LLC. ``Goldman will tell us what the state of the industry is because they have their hands in most of this stuff.''
Morgan Stanley, Goldman's largest rival, and Lehman also reported profit declines this week. Goldman got an added boost from an extra-long reporting period. The firm, which closes its books on the last Friday of the month, ended the third quarter on Aug. 31, compared with Aug. 25 last year.
Fed Relief
Investors are betting that pressure on the securities industry will ease in future quarters now that the Federal Reserve has lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point. When overnight interest rates decline, banks can make money by borrowing cheap and investing in longer-term assets with higher yields.
Shares of the five largest Wall Street firms have advanced since the Fed's Sept. 18 cut. They fell today, with Bear Stearns dropping 18 cents to $115.46 as of 4:02 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange. Goldman fell $1.97 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $203.53.
``We think that the outlook for our businesses is pretty good,'' Goldman CFO David Viniar said in an interview today. Goldman has no plans to slow hiring, he said.
Revenue in Goldman's fixed income, currency and commodities division, the firm's largest, rose 71 percent to a record $4.89 billion -- even after $1.48 billion of losses for marking to market the value of non-investment grade credits.
Beating Estimates
Analysts had expected Goldman to earn $4.35 a share, the average estimate of 18 surveyed by Bloomberg. The high estimate was $5.08. In the year-earlier period, Goldman's profit was $1.59 billion, or $3.26 a share.
``The numbers are great,'' Glenn Schorr, an analyst at UBS AG in New York, wrote in a note to investors today. The earnings demonstrate Goldman's ``ability to not only navigate choppy waters, but make a ton of money doing so,'' he said.
Viniar said hedging and fee income reduced the markdowns from $2.4 billion and ``substantially all'' of the losses were for loans to finance leveraged buyouts. Goldman ended the quarter with $42 billion of unfunded LBO commitments, down from $51 billion on June 1.
Lehman and Bear Stearns each recorded $700 million of losses on similar markdowns and Morgan Stanley's totaled $877 million.
Mortgage Magic
Under Dan Sparks, Goldman's New York-based head of mortgages, the firm profited from short positions that anticipated declining loan values. Goldman made money in part by entering into contracts tied to ABX indexes, which reflect the perceived risk of mortgage defaults. The gains more than offset losses from writedowns on Goldman's inventory of non-prime home loans and related securities.
``There are going to be opportunities in the mortgage business,'' Viniar said on a call with analysts and investors. ``There are certainly going to be opportunities to buy distressed assets. It's something we're certainly looking at.''
Blankfein warned at a June conference that ``a very big crisis in the credit markets'' was the ``biggest risk we face.'' He also said Goldman was ``organizing ourselves like the market is undervaluing risk and so we are in a high state of nervousness.''
Hedge Fund Collapse
Cayne, 73, failed to anticipate the collapse in demand for mortgage-related securities after default rates on subprime loans surged earlier this year. Two Bear Stearns hedge funds that invested in mortgage debt collapsed in June and ultimately went bankrupt, leaving the firm with the $200 million of losses and expenses.
Goldman also benefited from a strategy of buying and selling companies like it does stocks and bonds. Fixed-income revenue included a $900 million gain on Goldman's $2.15 billion sale of Horizon Wind Energy LLC to EDP-Energias de Portugal SA in July.
The firm had similar gains in previous quarters, on a New Jersey power plant and Japan's Accordia Golf Co. Yesterday, Goldman's Cogentrix subsidiary sold 80 percent of its share in 14 power plants. Viniar declined to say how much Goldman may gain on that transaction.
Investment-banking revenue at Goldman rose 67 percent to $2.15 billion. The firm arranged $255 billion of takeovers completed during the third quarter, 78 percent more than a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman also managed $11.5 billion of equity offerings during the quarter, more than twice as much as a year earlier, Bloomberg data show.
Equity Trading
Equity-trading revenue more than doubled to $3.13 billion on higher commissions, gains on proprietary bets and increased demand for derivatives. Goldman's principal-investments unit, which holds stakes in companies including Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, had $211 million of revenue, down 51 percent from a year earlier.
Revenue in the asset management and securities services unit rose 35 percent to $1.96 billion, even after two of Goldman's largest hedge funds declined by more than 20 percent in August. The firm said a 40 percent increase in management fees more than made up for a drop in its share of fund profits.
The Global Equity Opportunities fund fell 23 percent in August, its steepest monthly decline ever. Global Alpha, Goldman's biggest hedge fund, dropped 22.5 percent for the month and is down 34.9 percent this year. Viniar said investors have notified Goldman that they plan to withdraw $1.6 billion from Global Alpha, redemptions that will leave the fund with about $4.5 billion to $5 billion in assets.
Goldman injected $2 billion into Global Equity Opportunities on Aug. 13 and raised $1 billion more from outside investors to keep the fund solvent. The fund rose 16 percent from the day of the investment and the end of the quarter, Viniar said. Goldman has no plans to add cash to Global Alpha, he added.
Investment Bank Results at a Glance
Investment Bank / S&P500 Charts
http://realtimecharts.blogspot.com/2007/09/investment-bank-chart.html
NEW YORK (AP) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's biggest investment bank, reported on Thursday the third-best profit in the securities firm's 138-year history. Three of its rivals -- Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. -- didn't fare as well during a fiscal third quarter rocked by credit- and mortgage-related turbulence.
The following is a scorecard of how they did:
_ Goldman Sachs: Goldman said profit spiked 79 percent to $2.85 billion, trouncing Wall Street expectations. It booked about $1.5 billion in loan losses in the quarter, though it offset losses with the $900 million sale of holdings in a power company.
_ Morgan Stanley: The nation's No. 2 investment bank reported profit fell 17 percent to $1.54 billion. Loan markdowns in the quarter cost it $940 million. It also had $480 million in losses from computer-driven trading strategies.
_ Lehman Brothers: The No. 4 investment bank reported profit decreased a smaller-than-expected 3.2 percent to $887 million. It marked down $700 million on assets that lost value.
_ Bear Stearns: The No. 5 investment bank reported profit plunged 62 percent to $166.1 million. Revenue in the fixed income business, Bear's biggest, plunged 88 percent. It also racked up $200 million from hedge fund losses, and wrote down $700 million for loans.
Merrill Lynch & Co., the third-largest U.S. investment bank, will report results next month.
http://realtimecharts.blogspot.com/2007/09/investment-bank-chart.html
NEW YORK (AP) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's biggest investment bank, reported on Thursday the third-best profit in the securities firm's 138-year history. Three of its rivals -- Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. -- didn't fare as well during a fiscal third quarter rocked by credit- and mortgage-related turbulence.
The following is a scorecard of how they did:
_ Goldman Sachs: Goldman said profit spiked 79 percent to $2.85 billion, trouncing Wall Street expectations. It booked about $1.5 billion in loan losses in the quarter, though it offset losses with the $900 million sale of holdings in a power company.
_ Morgan Stanley: The nation's No. 2 investment bank reported profit fell 17 percent to $1.54 billion. Loan markdowns in the quarter cost it $940 million. It also had $480 million in losses from computer-driven trading strategies.
_ Lehman Brothers: The No. 4 investment bank reported profit decreased a smaller-than-expected 3.2 percent to $887 million. It marked down $700 million on assets that lost value.
_ Bear Stearns: The No. 5 investment bank reported profit plunged 62 percent to $166.1 million. Revenue in the fixed income business, Bear's biggest, plunged 88 percent. It also racked up $200 million from hedge fund losses, and wrote down $700 million for loans.
Merrill Lynch & Co., the third-largest U.S. investment bank, will report results next month.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
US Investment Banks Will Report Earnings
NEW YORK (AP) - On Wall Street, now more so than any time in recent memory, everyone is holding their breath and fearing the worst.
Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks will report third-quarter earnings in the next several days. Everyone -- from traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to highly paid bankers perched in corner offices -- is looking for any kind of sign these financial institutions have weathered one of the rockiest markets in years.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and Bear Stearns Cos. have been squeezed by turmoil in the mortgage industry and tightening credit conditions. Their results will provide a badly needed first glimpse into the health of the global financial market.
The investment banks, along with other financial firms, make up about a quarter of the Standard & Poor's 500 index. It is a long-held belief that this group must show strength in order for the blue chip index to advance -- and anything less could extend the volatile conditions that marred most of the summer. As it stands, the firms on average lost about 20 percent during the quarter -- with Bear Stearns leading them with a 31 percent decline.
"They are terribly, terribly important," said Quincy Krosby, chief economist for The Hartford. "I don't think you can have a truly sustainable rally unless the financials stabilize. For the retail investor, the earnings will give general guidance for where we are in unraveling the crisis."
Individual investors have been nervously watching their 401(k) and stock portfolios tumble, as the financial industry began to shudder from the pressure of weakening investments and dwindling access to capital.
There is widespread fear that banks are not only sitting on bad loans and wrong-way trades, but they might also detail stalling takeover activity and a dearth in corporate debt financing. Accounting rules that let firms place a value on assets based solely on their best guess of the worth could muddy the waters further.
Richard X. Bove, an analyst with Punk Ziegel & Co. who has been among the industry's toughest critics, said there is a likelihood the banks' auditors have met with the Securities and Exchange Commission about what must be divulged on their balance sheets. He points out that regulators would be "willing to go the extra mile to keep them in reasonable shape," and that it might be some time before investors get more accurate information.
"If history is any gauge, you'll have to wait for their quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission to find out what is really going on with these companies," Bove said. "It's going to be tough to make judgments."
Quarterly reports filed to the SEC, also known as 10-Qs, must be submitted to the regulator within 45 days of the end of the quarter. These documents typically offer more detail than what is released in earnings reports.
Lehman Brothers reports on Tuesday, and analysts like Bove will be looking for how much troubled debt is on the firms' books. In August, Lehman shuttered most of its mortgage business.
Morgan Stanley, which has very little exposure to subprime mortgages, is known as one of the most aggressive traders on the street. Its report on Wednesday will also be well followed.
Goldman's report on Thursday will be a barometer of the overall industry because it is the most diverse investment bank, and it might have used volatile market conditions to make shrewd trades. The firm acknowledged last month that its flagship hedge fund suffered steep losses.
Bear Stearns also reports on Thursday, and Wall Street will be looking for how its vast fixed-income business performed during the past few months. Two Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed into bankruptcy this summer after wrong-way bets on mortgage debt.
Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's largest brokerage, will report its results in October. However, on Friday the broker said it recorded adjustments to the value of certain investments in the third quarter, acknowledging they lost value as the debt markets remain in seizure.
But regardless of how this week's results pan out, Wall Street's big players might be thrown a lifeline. The Federal Reserve, which has been injecting cash into the banking system to help stabilize it, will meet on Tuesday to ponder a much-anticipated interest rate cut.
The full effects of interest rate cuts typically aren't felt in the financial system for up to a year. However, should central bankers lower rates, it might infuse enough enthusiasm into the credit markets to provide and instant psychological boost for the banks.
"People get worn out by the crisis itself," The Hartford's Krosby said.
Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks will report third-quarter earnings in the next several days. Everyone -- from traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to highly paid bankers perched in corner offices -- is looking for any kind of sign these financial institutions have weathered one of the rockiest markets in years.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and Bear Stearns Cos. have been squeezed by turmoil in the mortgage industry and tightening credit conditions. Their results will provide a badly needed first glimpse into the health of the global financial market.
The investment banks, along with other financial firms, make up about a quarter of the Standard & Poor's 500 index. It is a long-held belief that this group must show strength in order for the blue chip index to advance -- and anything less could extend the volatile conditions that marred most of the summer. As it stands, the firms on average lost about 20 percent during the quarter -- with Bear Stearns leading them with a 31 percent decline.
"They are terribly, terribly important," said Quincy Krosby, chief economist for The Hartford. "I don't think you can have a truly sustainable rally unless the financials stabilize. For the retail investor, the earnings will give general guidance for where we are in unraveling the crisis."
Individual investors have been nervously watching their 401(k) and stock portfolios tumble, as the financial industry began to shudder from the pressure of weakening investments and dwindling access to capital.
There is widespread fear that banks are not only sitting on bad loans and wrong-way trades, but they might also detail stalling takeover activity and a dearth in corporate debt financing. Accounting rules that let firms place a value on assets based solely on their best guess of the worth could muddy the waters further.
Richard X. Bove, an analyst with Punk Ziegel & Co. who has been among the industry's toughest critics, said there is a likelihood the banks' auditors have met with the Securities and Exchange Commission about what must be divulged on their balance sheets. He points out that regulators would be "willing to go the extra mile to keep them in reasonable shape," and that it might be some time before investors get more accurate information.
"If history is any gauge, you'll have to wait for their quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission to find out what is really going on with these companies," Bove said. "It's going to be tough to make judgments."
Quarterly reports filed to the SEC, also known as 10-Qs, must be submitted to the regulator within 45 days of the end of the quarter. These documents typically offer more detail than what is released in earnings reports.
Lehman Brothers reports on Tuesday, and analysts like Bove will be looking for how much troubled debt is on the firms' books. In August, Lehman shuttered most of its mortgage business.
Morgan Stanley, which has very little exposure to subprime mortgages, is known as one of the most aggressive traders on the street. Its report on Wednesday will also be well followed.
Goldman's report on Thursday will be a barometer of the overall industry because it is the most diverse investment bank, and it might have used volatile market conditions to make shrewd trades. The firm acknowledged last month that its flagship hedge fund suffered steep losses.
Bear Stearns also reports on Thursday, and Wall Street will be looking for how its vast fixed-income business performed during the past few months. Two Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed into bankruptcy this summer after wrong-way bets on mortgage debt.
Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's largest brokerage, will report its results in October. However, on Friday the broker said it recorded adjustments to the value of certain investments in the third quarter, acknowledging they lost value as the debt markets remain in seizure.
But regardless of how this week's results pan out, Wall Street's big players might be thrown a lifeline. The Federal Reserve, which has been injecting cash into the banking system to help stabilize it, will meet on Tuesday to ponder a much-anticipated interest rate cut.
The full effects of interest rate cuts typically aren't felt in the financial system for up to a year. However, should central bankers lower rates, it might infuse enough enthusiasm into the credit markets to provide and instant psychological boost for the banks.
"People get worn out by the crisis itself," The Hartford's Krosby said.
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