Word: stand
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...Morgan Stanley, which Mack heads, and Goldman Sachs - the only stand-alone U.S. investment banks left after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch - saw their shares plunge by 24% and 14%, respectively. Morgan Stanley and Goldman haven't been without their problems, but they are viewed as the two most conservatively run investment banks - ones that have largely avoided the souring mortgage-related assets that have seized up the global financial system. Both firms reported better-than-expected, but by no means stellar, earnings just the night before...
...some industry experts say the stand-alone investment-bank model is no longer working. Investment banks made buckets of money for many years by tapping capital markets and leveraging to the hilt. But with credit drying up, financing activities with deposits - like commercial banks do - appears to be a better strategy. Commercial banks like Wachovia also have fairly conservative caps on the amount of leverage they use, which affords them greater flexibility during periods of financial-system stress...
...There are, of course, defenders of the stand-alone model. On Goldman's conference call, CFO David Viniar dismissed the notion that Goldman would be better off with a deposit base, saying that because of regulatory constraints, only a "small portion" of Goldman's business could be funded that way. "We think it's not about the model. It is about the performance of the company," he said...
...They enjoy his charismatic presence on the world scene, reinforced by the beauty and distinction of his wife, Carla Bruni. Sarkozy's audacious Union for the Mediterranean summit in July 2008 in Paris, and his high visibility in his current six-month stint as President of the European Council, stand in striking contrast to the leaden final years of François Mitterrand's second term, or to the two mandates of Jacques Chirac. From the Caucasus to Damascus, it seems, France is back...
...besieged offices - which could take him many more hours - he planned to close out his investment. "There's nothing like cash in your hands," he said. It seems the expression "like money in the bank" has fallen out of favor with a public that is weighing what they stand to lose as the shakeout of financial-industry titans continues. - by Neel Chowdhury