Investors are breathing a sigh of relief that 2008 is over, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable. After all, with a worldwide recession under way, investors can expect acceleration in corporate bankruptcies in 2009.

But the question is - which ones?

In the financial services sector, 2008 was a year of spectacular failures:

Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. were absorbed by JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC), respectively. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ) filed for bankruptcy protection. And financial-sector giants American International Group Inc. (AIG) and Citigroup Inc. (C) were both bailed ...

The banking landscape in the U.S. has changed drastically over the past few months. At the beginning of the current year, three major banking acquisitions were completed. With the acquisition of Merrill Lynch (MER), Bank of America (BAC) has now become the largest bank in the country by assets, ahead of JP Morgan Chase (JPM), which had recently purchased Washington Mutual's banking operations, and Citigroup (C). At the same time, Wells Fargo (WFC) and PNC Financial Services (PNC) completed the acquisitions of Wachovia and National City to become the 4th and 5th largest bank in the country.Earlier, in September last year, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and the other two major investment banks Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) converted to bank holding companies.Twenty-five banks had collapsed last year under the burden of loan losses, and ...

In this article, we cite Merrill Lynch (MER), Bank of America (BAC), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), PNC Financial Services (PNC), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS).The banking landscape in the U.S. has changed drastically over the past fewmonths. At the beginning of the current year, three major banking acquisitions were completed. With the acquisition of Merrill Lynch (MER), Bank of America (BAC) has now become the largest bank in the country by assets, ahead of JP Morgan Chase (JPM), which had recently purchased Washington Mutual's banking operations, and Citigroup (C). At the same time, Wells Fargo (WFC) and PNC Financial Services (PNC) completed the acquisitions of Wachovia and National City respectively, and became the 4th and 5th largest banks in the country.Earlier, ...

Bond Market’s Glimpse Into 2009

On Friday, Treasuries posted their first weekly loss since October - even as Middle East tensions pushed yields up again. As the year draws to a close, Treasuries have come out as the clear asset-class winner in 2008.

But they may have reached their peak in popularity when investors rushed to get a 0% yield. The rest of the market hasn’t been so popular. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are all down more than 36% for the year.

Unfortunately, just because Treasuries become less popular doesn’t mean there’s a market uptick in our future. But the bond market does give a glimmer of hope for the New Year.

When investors become less risk averse, the spread between the yields of Treasuries and corporate bonds becomes smaller. The spreads have narrowed, and are almost half what they were months ago. Investors are starting

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Given the implicit government guarantees, Eric Roseman says it is likely that investors will soon start to switch from low-yielding Treasury bonds to high-grade corporate debt. The Fed’s balance sheet is now polluted by the toxic debt it has taken on from banks. And demand for Treasuries will not keep pace with the deluge of supply in the coming year. Eric says this could make investment grade corporate debt the new safe haven in bonds in 2009.

This from Sovereign Society:

Several segments of the credit markets have come back to life in December after crushing losses recorded in September and October. Though it’s too early to celebrate a broad-based credit revival, the largest issuers of investment grade debt surged this month as yields plunged. Mortgage-backed bonds, or agency debt, have also rallied sharply in December on the heels of government guarantees and the Fed’s plan to spend $500

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The 116 banks that are receiving billions in taxpayer-provided bailout money this year actually paid out $1.6 billion in compensation and benefits to their top executives last year – even though the results at some of these institutions were so poor that they would soon have to turn to Washington for a government-engineered rescue.

The $1.6 billion was paid out to nearly 600 executives at the 116 banks that have so far accepted federal money to bolster their financial foundations, The Associated Press concluded after a review of U.S. securities filings. In addition to salary, the compensation included bonuses paid in both cash and stock. The benefits reaped by top executives included the use of company jets for personal purposes, personal chauffeurs, home-security services, country-club memberships and professional-wealth-management services, the news service said.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a longtime critic of the fat pay packages given to U.S. executives, said

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The 116 banks that are receiving billions in taxpayer-provided bailout money this year actually paid out $1.6 billion in compensation and benefits to their top executives last year – even though the results at some of these institutions were so poor that they would soon have to turn to Washington for a government-engineered rescue. The $1.6 billion was paid out to nearly 600 executives at the 116 banks that have so far accepted federal money to bolster their financial foundations, The Associated Press concluded after a review of U.S. securities filings. In addition to salary, the compensation included bonuses paid in both cash and stock. The benefits reaped by top executives included the use of company jets for personal purposes, personal chauffeurs, home-security services, country-club memberships and professional-wealth-management services, the news service said. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a longtime critic ...

The Federal Reserve used up almost all of its remaining conventional ammo today as it desperately tries to prevent the second Great Depression. The statement is below, along with the previous statement, and with my commentary interspersed."The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to establish a target range for the federal funds rate of 0 to 1/4 percent."  "The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 1 percent." Hard to believe that just six weeks ago the fed funds rate was at 1.50%. Now we are near zero. The use of a range is unusual and perhaps unprecedented. Then again, the fed funds rate has never been this low before, and at the low end of the range I can safely say that it is a record that will never be ...

MAN AG Buying VW Brazil Unit; Siemens Settles Probe for $2 Billion; Mattel Pays $12 Million for Tainted Toys; Ireland Banks Getting a Bailout; Housing Market Facing Confidence Collapse; Boeing Raises Dividend; U.S. Homes Lose $2 Trillion in Value

German manufacturing and engineering titan MAN AG said it will acquire Volkswagen Truck and Bus from Volkswagen AG (OTC: VLKAY). The 250-year-old MAN AG is Europe’s third-largest truckmaker, and this purchase marks its first major South American investment, Bloomberg reported. Siemens AG (ADR:SI) will pay more than $1.3 billion to settle corporate corruption charges that ...