Archive for March 17th, 2008

Until the recent tempest, Wall Street firms looked like just about the world's best businesses. Year after year, they posted sumptuous returns on equity, ever-rising share prices, and if you believed their claims, a new breed of CEOs who'd mastered the art and science of risk management. True, it was hard to decipher exactly how they made all that money. But make it they did.

Until the recent tempest, Wall Street firms looked like just about the world's best businesses. Year after year, they posted sumptuous returns on equity, ever-rising share prices, and if you believed their claims, a new breed of CEOs who'd mastered the art and science of risk management. True, it was hard to decipher exactly how they made all that money. But make it they did.

Stocks cut losses and the Dow managed to end higher Monday, at the end of a tough session in which investors tried to put in perspective Bear Stearns' fire sale and emergency moves by the Federal Reserve.

There's already been a wave of layoffs on Wall Street this year, and the Bear Stearns buyout could trigger another round of pink slips.

Stocks cut losses and the Dow managed to end higher Monday, at the end of a tough session in which investors tried to put in perspective Bear Stearns' fire sale and emergency moves by the Federal Reserve.

Stocks cut losses and the Dow managed to end higher Monday, at the end of a tough session in which investors tried to put in perspective Bear Stearns' fire sale and emergency moves by the Federal Reserve.

The Fed's agreement to buy up to $30 billion in troubled Bear Stearns mortgage bonds may have saved JPMorgan Chase from a big writedown, according to senior executives involved in the transaction.

The Fed's agreement to buy up to $30 billion in troubled Bear Stearns mortgage bonds may have saved JPMorgan Chase from a big writedown, according to senior executives involved in the transaction. Ultimately, it enabled a deal to be done even as alternatives rapidly dried up.

While the greenback gets beaten black and blue against power currencies such as the euro and yen, experts are crediting China's yuan for keeping American consumers from paying significantly more for a wide range of products.

While the greenback gets beaten black and blue against power currencies such as the euro and yen, experts are crediting China's yuan for keeping American consumers from paying significantly more for a wide range of products.