In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on to Bank of America for roughly ( $29 a share)

Some Wall St. Banks Falter. New York times reports that, in one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion dollars.

Is this the end of the deleveraging in Wall Street Banks. It is a sad day to see some Wall Street Banks fall. Bank of America was involved in discussing buying Lehman. Maybe because it became apparent that Lehman would have to fall (as discussed in the previous article), given that this would have an impact on other wall stree banks, the next weakess bank may have sensed the danger and deciced not to take risks, and sell itself to Bank of America.

Another bank was in discussion with Lehman. With Lehman under the protection of Chapter 11, would this be an opportunity for Barclays to jump in (Or even American Express (which Lehman span off)).

Excerpt from New York Times:


" In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, said it would seek bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer."....

"The stunning series of events culminated a weekend of frantic around-the-clock negotiations, as Wall Street bankers huddled in meetings at the behest of Bush administration officials to try to avoid a downward spiral in the markets stemming from a crisis of confidence."...

"It remains to be seen whether the sale of Merrill, which was worth more than $100 billion during the last year, and the controlled demise of Lehman will be enough to finally turn the tide in the yearlong financial crisis that has crippled Wall Street and threatened the broader economy."...