What the Finance

Morgan Stanley, the once-upon-a-time investment bank that has recently been converted into a bank holding company to avoid bankruptcy has announced plans to cut off ten percent of its staff in the institutional securities business unit.
These cuts come in addition to headcount reductions that have been disclosed earlier this year, Chief Financial Officer Colm [...]

Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., and Chrysler LLC are all queuing up for cash as sales demand has dropped to record lows amid the global recession climate change… The carmakers are seeking $50 billion in federal loans to help them go through the worst auto market slump in 25 years.

Thousands of jobs are expected to be lost at Merrill Lynch, the once upon a time Wall Street investment bank that was taken over by Bank of America Corp almost a month ago. Merrill Lynch Co. only recently eliminated more than 5,000 jobs that accounted for almost 8 percent of its total workforce.

General Motors shares soared by 33% on Monday, 13th October on reports stating that the world’s largest automaker is looking for a merger partner. Richard Wagoner, the company’s CEO had approached Ford with a merger proposal, but Ford ruled out the idea. General Motors is now reported to have held talks with Cerberus Capital Management, [...]

The US government is pumping liquidity into its banks in return of a stake. Treasury Secretary Paulson announced plans of using $250 billion taxpayer’s money to make investments in nine banks, for a start.

The FME, the Icelandic equivalent of the FSA (Financial Services Authority) decided to create a new bank model and announced today in a press release its course of action after the near total collapse of its commercial banking sector.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the two new cases that the FBI has been called in to investigate. The agency has already been investigating the

The number of US businesses bankruptcy filings has risen as much as 49% in April compared to a year earlier. According to statistical data that was compiled by Jupiter eSources LLC, the business bankruptcy filings soared to 5,713 during April. The total number of bankruptcy filings, including those filed by individuals amounted to a total [...]

UBS AG Chief Executive Officer Marcel Rohner confirmed analysts’ fears today that UBS, the largest Swiss bank will put its investment banking business on a much tighter leash. UBS will ‘no longer aim to offer everything to everyone in investment banking” Rohner told investors at the annual shareholder meeting in Basel today.
UBS has about $3 [...]

Just when the dollar showed some signs of recovery, it was hit by a South Korean bomb. The dollar’s vulnerability was highly underscored by the announcement of South Korean’s National Pension Fund that would no longer buy US treasuries as yields were too low.
The Fund also announced that it is now looking to diversify its [...]