Lehman, Merrill, WaMu Wall Street Pariahs

[dkf]

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) tumbled in premarket trading as selling begat more selling a day after the brokerage announced major plans that it hoped would allay investor worries, but seem to have instead increased them.

The stock was recently down 31% premarket to $4.99. The drop comes on top of a 55% decline Lehman's shares have already seen over the course of the week as shareholders have grown increasingly worried about the bank's future prospects.

Shares of peer brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) also fell in premarket trading, recently declining 10% to $20.98 as investors increased their scrutiny of the firm in the wake of Lehman's news. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Brad Hintz added to concerns Wednesday as he put Merrill in the same boat as Lehman, labeling them the most vulnerable firms on Wall Street. Hintz said no other firms compare with the type of exposure that Merrill and Lehman still face.

Washington Mutual Inc. (WM) also continued to drop to lows not seen in 18 years. The firm, like Lehman, has failed in its attempts to restore investor confidence, as shares have only dropped since its announcement Monday that longtime Chief Executive Kerry Killinger was ousted and replaced with Brooklyn banker Alan Fishman. WaMu was recently down 9.5% to $2.10.

Wednesday, Lehan announced plans to spin off to its shareholders the "vast majority" of its commercial real-estate assets, sell about a 55% interest in its investment-management division and slash its dividend 93% as it also predicted a fiscal third-quarter loss of $3.9 billion.

http://www.smartmoney.com/breaking-news/smw/index.cfm?story=20080911085428

[EV_Ares]

1. Can't feel sorry for these guys who have screwed the small investor, their greed and

have raked in the money with their corrupt ways.

I do not wish ill or at least any more ill on our economy but these acts that Wall Street has been involved in need to be exposed and they need to pay the penalty for the havoc they have brought on us all.