Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch – Who Will Fall Next?

by

panic.jpgIf you’re any where near the NYC metro area, then you’re bound to notice great tension in the air.  The tension is the by-product of recent financial news headlined by the financial giant Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy.  Today’s NY Times summarizes the current state on Wall Street well:

Nervous investors tried to make sense of a rapidly changing financial landscape on Monday as the State of New York offered American International Group a lifeline, the Bank of America began the task of assimilating Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers started its journey into bankruptcy.

The surprising development surrounding this disastrous Monday is that the Fed allowed Lehman to file for bankruptcy.  If you remember, the Fed rushed in to bail out Bear Stearns over concerns that if a major bank was allowed to go bankrupt, financial disaster would follow. 

So what can we make of the recent developments?  From the latest news reports, there are certainly more banks to fall (even the mighty Goldman Sachs is mentioned) and with no real, grand, government intervention likely, we may see some real downturns before the Banking sector can recover.

Read all about the current financial misery at:

NY Times Business section

Wall Street Journal

Financial Times

 

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.