Charting Stocks

Morgan Stanley CEO announced that he is stepping down as CEO and will be replaced by James P Gorman.  Mack, who spent four years as the head of the prestigious investment bank, will remain with the firm as its Chairman.
James Gorman joined Morgan Stanley in early 2006 as the President and COO of the firms [...]

Recent Article in Reuters suggests that the AIG bailout was really another Wall Street bank bailout.
(Reuters) – Where, oh where, did AIG’s bailout billions go? That question may reverberate even louder through the halls of government in the week ahead now that a partial list of beneficiaries has been published.
The Wall Street Journal reported on [...]

Bank of America disclosed that Merrill Lynch lost $15.84 billion in Q4 of 2008. The loss is $500 million more than BAC had previously estimated.
BAC’s Merill Lynch unit got a direct injection of $20 billion in federal aid while it paid out roughly $3.6 billion in executive bonuses and broker retention packages.
Bank of American bought [...]

Andrew Cuomo, The NY Attorney General, filed a motion on Monday asking former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to provide more information regarding the billions of dollars in bonuses paid out to Merrill employees on the eve of the B of A merger.

Attorney General Cuomo has alleged that Thain is not answering the questions under [...]

Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) won’t live to see May. The government will take them over within the next 60 days. The announcement may come as soon as tomorrow evening.
If there’s one thing our readers know, it’s that ChartingStocks.net has made some bold calls in the past which seemed controversial and highly unlikely [...]

In a letter to Braney Frank, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has accused Merrill Lynch executives of corporate irresponsibility by secretly and prematurely awarding $3.6 billion in bonuses as taxpayers were bailing out the industry.

Cuomo says that instead of disclosing its bonus plan in a transparent manner designed to assure the payments were warranted, [...]

Bank of America has announced its plans to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over the next 3 years. The reductions reflect it’s upcoming acquisition of Merrill Lynch  and the “weak” economy.
Should Bank of America be allowed to layoff 35,000 workers?
I know the question would anger some free market economists but let’s remember that [...]

As of 01/02/2008 the the year price target on the S&P 500 set by the Chief Investment Strategists at the major investment banks are as follows:
Strategist Year End Price Target
Citigroup                                   1675
HSBC                                          1700
Credit Suisse                              1650
Bank of America                         1625
UBS                                             1700
Morgan Stanley                           1525
Bear Stearns                                1700
Goldman Sachs                           1675
JP Morgan                                    1590
Lehman Brothers                         1630
Wachovia                                     1590
Merrill Lynch                                1525
Average 1632
Average [...]

The stock market continued it’s slide this week with the financial stocks leading the way.
Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup & Merrill Lynch make fresh new lows.

Both Houses of Morgan (JP Morgan & Morgan Stanley) show relative strength while Goldman Sachs and Citigroup look the weakest.

Charting Stocks Update
March 17, 2007
Merrill Lynch urges the Fed to cut rates:
Merrill Analyst — “If the inflation-fighting Federal Reserve were to keep rates unchanged to contain price growth — instead of cutting by 1 percentage point in the second half of 2007 as Merrill expects — then this would put the probability of an outright [...]