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None of the banks wanted to touch Lehman and even if they did, their own balance sheets are almost as bad.

• tptacek 18y ago
  ... so instead they go and buy Merrill? Not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work there, Lou.
  • caudicus 18y ago
    Well, I don't know the internals but Merrill might have a better balance sheet than Lehman. Also, BOA might be trying the whole "get too big to fail" thing - riding the wave of moral hazard and hoping for a government bail out if they ever hit the rocks hard.
    • incomethax 18y ago
      So they're trying to replicate Bear? If they were, then paying $25-$30/share for Merill would be teh FAIL. Merrill most definitely has a better balance sheet (given the stockholder's equity section) than Lehman, and also less exposure to the types of risky securities that are failing. I for one wouldn't want to be in ownership of any financial in this market. On a side note, money seems to be going through almost a daily rotation of sectors. One day tech's up while everything else is down, the next day its biotech, commodities etc.. Tomorrow is going to be a down day for financials, which has meant an up day for techs in recent days. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.