Trump dá 10 dias a Putin para chegar a acordo de tréguas com Ucrânia

[iurp]

Segundo o q vi agora no bloomberg o caso Lehman tem q ter soluçao ate as 23:59h caso contrario devera declarar falencia.

Portanto daqui a sensivelmente 7h ja veremos o q vai acontecer...amanha tem tudo pare ser um dia em cheio.

Abraços

Estou convencido que mais uma vez vão pôr a mão a isto. Será uma solução de curto prazo que encherá mais o balão. Mas quando este rebentar...o problema é que estes senhores do Tesouro já não vão lá estar para assumirem as consequências.

Política da "terra queimada". Quem vier a seguir que feche a porta.

[Onorio]

Segundo o q vi agora no bloomberg o caso Lehman tem q ter soluçao ate as 23:59h caso contrario devera declarar falencia.

Portanto daqui a sensivelmente 7h ja veremos o q vai acontecer...amanha tem tudo pare ser um dia em cheio.

Abraços

[iurp]

http://www.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.htm?N= ... tg_Az4.asf

[iurp]

Esta 1ª reacção dos futuros pode ser enganadora, tal como o foi com as Fs.

abraço

[- GOE -]

A que horas começam os futuros dos states a negociar?

Julgo que às 23 h.

abraço

Ok obrigado iurp

Quanto à situação da Lehman penso que a melhor saída seria alguém estar interessado na mesma, no entanto o Barcklay's já recusou avançar pois parece que o risco é bastante elevado..

Às 23h talvez se tenha uma ideia da reacção do mercado..

[iurp]

A que horas começam os futuros dos states a negociar?

Julgo que às 23 h.

abraço

[- GOE -]

A que horas começam os futuros dos states a negociar?

[iurp]

By Craig Torres

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- A group of banks and brokers began preparing for a potential Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy filing today, addressing outstanding trades that the company has in over-the-counter derivatives markets.

Financial firms have started ``netting'' Lehman trades on credit, equity, interest-rate, foreign exchange, and commodity derivatives, according to a statement from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association e-mailed to Bloomberg News.

``ISDA confirms a netting trading session will take place between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. New York time for over-the-counter derivatives,'' the ISDA said. ``Trades are contingent on a bankruptcy filing at or before 11:59 p.m. New York time, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008. If there is no filing, the trades cease to exist.''

The announcement came after Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third- biggest bank, said it abandoned talks to buy Lehman, contending it couldn't obtain guarantees to protect against potential losses at the U.S. securities firm.

To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 14, 2008 14:40 EDT

[Vencer na Bolsa]

Lehman Brothers on the Block

The sale of Lehman Brothers in its entirety is probably the best thing for the firm and financial markets, says Paul Larson, equities strategist at Morningstar.

Vídeo:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=852505985

[Dilson Costa]

•Barclays Abandons Talks to Buy Lehman, Says It Can't Get Credit Guarantees

Barclays Abandons Talks to Buy Lehman, Citing Potential Losses


Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third- biggest bank, said it abandoned talks to buy Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., contending it couldn't obtain guarantees to protect against potential losses at the U.S. securities firm.

Barclays, which had emerged as a leading candidate to acquire all or parts of Lehman, pulled out amid a third day of emergency negotiations led by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve, Leigh Bruce, a spokesman for the London-based bank said in a phone interview today.

The U.S. government is racing to find a solution for the faltering investment bank before markets open tomorrow, two people familiar with the situation said. Barclays walked away because it couldn't get guarantees from the government or agree on a private-sector deal to mitigate Lehman's potential losses, Bruce said.

Wall Street executives arrived at the New York Federal Reserve building in lower Manhattan this morning to discuss a rescue plan, including Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and Robert Wolf, chairman for the Americas at UBS AG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. sent CEO Jamie Dimon, Investment Bank Co-CEO Steven Black and General Counsel Stephen Cutler.

Barclays's takeover approach depended sealing off losses from Lehman's mortgage-related holdings, according to people familiar with the talks. Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. consumer bank, also is among the potential bidders for New York- based Lehman, which has lost 94 percent of its market value this year after record losses from investments tied to mortgages.

Barclays Writedowns

``The solution is to force the merger of Lehman now, this weekend, with a big commercial bank,'' said Richard Bove, a Lutz, Florida-based analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co.

Barclays, which has taken $7.6 billion of writedowns on its mortgage positions in the last four quarters, raised 4.5 billion pounds ($6.4 billion) in a share sale in July. The bank's 5 billion pounds of buyout loans and 12 billion pounds of commercial mortgages may spur further markdowns, Collins Stewart analyst Alex Potter said last week.

``Acquisitions are difficult for Barclays because of capital constraints,'' said Simon Willis, an analyst at NCB Stockbrokers Ltd. in London, who has a ``reduce'' rating on the London-based bank.

New York Fed President Timothy Geithner, 47, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, 62, are pushing Wall Street to contribute money to a so-called bad bank that would assume at least some of Lehman's $50 billion of devalued real estate assets. That would make it easier for a buyer to take over the rest of the company while the assets are sold off.

Long-Term Capital

The approach is similar to one Lehman presented to investors last week, which the company said would cost $5 billion to $7 billion. The firm's mortgage-related assets have a face-value of about $74 billion before writedowns, based on figures the firm has reported. About another $10 billion of high-yield leveraged loans have been marked down to $7 billion during the past year, as market prices for the debt sank.

An arrangement involving the collaboration of Wall Street banks would be reminiscent of the rescue of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management LP, which failed in 1998 as Russia defaulted on its debt, roiling global markets. Spurred by the New York Fed, securities firms including Lehman contributed cash to prop up LTCM.

Led by Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld, Lehman may be forced to liquidate unless buyers step up for all or part of the 158-year-old company, Paulson and Geithner told the heads of Wall Street's biggest firms at a meeting Sept. 12. Paulson has said he's reluctant to use government money to rescue Lehman. Talks with the banks continued yesterday without producing an agreement.

[Capitão Nemo]

Sobre a situação da Lehman Brothers mais um artigo da CNN.

As coisas estão muito feias mesmo! E é real a hipótese de falência, pois os privados não parecem interessados nos maus produtos da Lehman apenas nos bons.

Estão à espera de mais um apoio do governo americano como com o Bear Stearns e as FM...

The endgame is near for Lehman

Key banking execs and regulators meet to discuss how to resolve crisis facing Dick Fuld's firm. Barclays reported to be leading contender to buy 'good' assets

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With the fate of beleaguered Lehman Brothers in the balance, some of Wall Street's most powerful executives and financial regulators were set Sunday to continue an emergency meeting aimed at resolving the crisis facing Lehman and the broader financial markets.

The participants, who started meeting Friday at the offices of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, are discussing several scenarios, according to several published reports.

One solution is a so-called good bank/bad bank option that would divide Lehman (LEH, Fortune 500) into separate entities.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that British bank Barclays (BCS) has emerged as the leading contender to buy Lehman's good assets, such as its equities division, but that Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) is also said to be interested.

Another would involve others helping Lehman dissolve in an orderly way to try to stave off a cascade of problems at companies that do business with the firm. The possibility of an outright sale to another bank seemed to be fading, according to the Journal.

The stakes are high.

Lehman -- one of the nation's largest and oldest investment banks - has suffered a dramatic and rapid descent. Its shares, which sold for as high as $67 in the past 12 months, have plummeted 94% this year and now trade at $3.65.

In the past six months, the company has reported $6.7 billion in losses due largely to bad bets on real estate. At the same time, concern is growing about problems throughout the financial sector.

Investors are worried about whether savings and loan Washington Mutual (WM, Fortune 500) has enough capital to survive the credit crunch and insurance giant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), faced with the threat of a downgrade to its credit ratings, is said to be considering selling off assets to raise capital. Both companies have also lost billions of dollars this year due to the subprime mortgage meltdown.

Race against the clock

Investors are anxiously awaiting an announcement regarding what is next for Lehman. The hope is that a solution can be agreed upon by Sunday before financial markets open in Asia and Europe.

A source with knowledge of the meetings told CNN that representatives of several major financial institutions have been meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner to discuss Lehman and the volatile state of the financial markets.

On Saturday, several heads of big Wall Street banks, including Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, were seen entering and leaving the offices of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

According to several reports, other financial firms are said to be reluctant to contributing their own funds to help keep Lehman's more toxic assets afloat without the assurance that the government would backstop Lehman's bad loans.

However, a source close to the situation told CNN Friday that the Treasury Department was adamantly against using any government money to help finance a takeover, restructuring or bailout of Lehman.

Top banking regulators, including the Federal Reserve, faced heavy criticism from lawmakers following the bailout of Bear Stearns in mid-March.

The Fed helped engineer a fire sale of the firm to JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), agreeing to put taxpayer funds at risk by guaranteeing $29 billion's worth of potential losses on Bear Stearns' portfolio.

A chaotic week for Lehman and Wall Street

The talks continue after what has been one of the most tumultuous weeks ever on Wall Street.

Things first started to unravel at Lehman Tuesday following reports that talks between the state-run Korea Development Bank, who was rumored to be interested in buying a stake in Lehman, had ended.

That, combined with the threat of a downgrade by some of the credit ratings agencies, led to a bloody sell-off in the firm's stock.

Hoping to finally put all the rumors to rest, the company released its third-quarter results more than a week in advance on Wednesday, booking a nearly $4 billion loss and announcing a drastic restructuring plan. Investors were unconvinced though and the sell-off in Lehman shares continued, with the stock plunging 42% on Wednesday.

By Thursday evening, it was widely reported that Lehman was actively seeking a buyer for the entire firm. The company reportedly reached out to a number of suitors, including Bank of America and Barclays.

Speculation also surfaced Friday that J.C. Flowers & Co. and other private equity firms may bid for all or parts of Lehman. Current regulatory restrictions prevent buyout firms from owning a bank outright, although the Federal Reserve has eyed loosening those restrictions as bank failures pile up.

But as Friday wore on without any news of a deal, Lehman's stock wound up falling another 13.5%. Shares plunged 77% over the course of the week, setting the stage for regulators to call upon banking executives to get together Friday night and begin talking about ways to hash out an end to the Lehman crisis.

End of an era for Wall Street icon

If Lehman is sold or broken up, it would mark the end for one of Wall Street's oldest and most well-known firms. Getting its start as a modest cotton-trading firm in Montgomery, Ala. in 1850 by German immigrant brothers Henry, Emanuel and Mayer Lehman, Lehman saw its fortunes rose and fell along with the rest of Wall Street.

After World War II, Lehman's profile grew as it advised such household American companies as Ford, Campbell Soup and Philip Morris on deals, before expanding overseas into Europe and Asia in the 1960s and 1970s.

The firm also became a breeding ground for high-profile dealmakers. Both Steve Schwarzman and Pete Peterson, co-founders of the private equity giant Blackstone Group, worked for Lehman in the early 1980s.

But Lehman's rise was cut short in April of 1984, when the company agreed to be purchased by Shearson/American Express for $360 million. The company emerged independent just seven years later, albeit in much weaker shape than it was before.

It was around that time, however, that CEO Richard (Dick) Fuld Jr., assumed the helm at Lehman and the firm went public after splitting off from American Express (AXP, Fortune 500).

Known for his direct approach and staunch loyalty to the firm, Fuld transformed Lehman in the decade that followed from a lowly bond trading house into a worthy adversary of larger investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Still there were bumps along the way for the long-time Lehman chief, including the Russian credit crisis and the painful collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in the late 1990s.

Fuld was quick to remind investors of those painful days and subsequent comeback during a conference call Wednesday, just after the company revealed its nearly $4 billion third-quarter loss.

"This firm has a history based on adversity and delivering," said Fuld. "We have a long track record of pulling together when times are tough."

But the obstacles Lehman faced this time around may prove too tough for Fuld to overcome.

Fonte CNN Money

[DC89]

Barclays Considers Bid for Lehman as Government Seeks Solution

By Ben Livesey and Yalman Onaran

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third- biggest bank, moved closer to making a bid for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as the U.S. government raced to find a solution for the faltering investment bank, two people familiar with the situation said.

Barclays's takeover approach depends on whether losses from Lehman's mortgage-related holdings can be sealed off, said the people, who declined to be identified because no formal offer has been made. Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. consumer bank, also is among the potential bidders for New York-based Lehman, which has lost 94 percent of its market value this year after record losses from investments tied to mortgages.

``The solution is to force the merger of Lehman now, this weekend, with a big commercial bank,'' said Richard Bove, a Lutz, Florida-based analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co.

Lehman, led by Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld, may be forced to liquidate unless buyers step up for all or part of the 158-year-old company, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner told the heads of Wall Street's biggest firms at a meeting Sept. 12. Paulson has said he's reluctant to use government money to rescue Lehman. Talks with the banks continued yesterday without producing an agreement.

``Senior representatives of major financial institutions reconvened on Saturday with U.S. officials at the New York Fed. Discussions are expected to continue tomorrow,'' a New York Fed spokesman said.

Bad Bank

With backing from the company's board, Barclays President Robert Diamond, 57, is leading a team to review Lehman's books and gauge the level of guarantees the bank would need to cover potential losses, the people said. Peter Truell, a Barclays spokesman, declined to comment.

``Acquisitions are difficult for Barclays because of capital constraints,'' said Simon Willis, an analyst at NCB Stockbrokers Ltd. in London, who has a ``reduce'' rating on the London-based banks. Barclays raised 4.5 billion pounds ($8 billion) in a share sale in June to shore up capital depleted by credit losses and increase its securities trading and fund management units in the U.S.

Geithner, 47, and Paulson, 62, are pushing Wall Street to contribute money to a so-called bad bank that would assume Lehman's $50 billion of devalued real estate assets. That would make it easier for a buyer to take over the rest of the company while the assets are sold off.

The approach is similar to one Lehman presented to investors last week, which the company said would cost $5 billion to $7 billion.

Echoes of LTCM

Such an arrangement would be reminiscent of the rescue of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management LP, which failed in 1998 as Russia defaulted on its debt, roiling global markets. Spurred by the New York Fed, Wall Street firms including Lehman contributed cash to prop up LTCM.

Lehman CEO Fuld, who participated in the LTCM talks and built Lehman into the biggest U.S. underwriter of mortgage securities during his four decades at the investment bank, was pushed toward a forced sale this past week after talks about a cash infusion from Korea Development Bank ended, eroding investor confidence and the company's market value.

Citigroup Inc.'s Vikram Pandit, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon, Morgan Stanley's John Mack, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Lloyd Blankfein, Merrill Lynch & Co.'s John Thain and Credit Suisse Group AG's Brady Dougan were among the CEOs at the meeting with government officials, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the gathering was private.

HSBC, Goldman

Robert Kelly, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Robert Wolf, chairman of UBS AG in the Americas, and Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, also participated, the people said, who asked not to be identified because the meeting wasn't public. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis didn't attend because his company is a potential bidder for Lehman, one person said.

Helping lead the discussion was Kendrick Wilson, a former Goldman executive whom Paulson tapped last month as an adviser.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank by market value, is also considering a bid for Lehman, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information. Goldman, the largest securities firm, is interested in Lehman's real-estate portfolio, the Journal said.

HSBC spokesman Richard Lindsay said the company doesn't comment on market speculation. Goldman spokesman Lucas van Praag also declined to comment.

Paulson, the former chairman of Goldman, doesn't want to put up money to help fund any Lehman acquisition, a person familiar with his thinking said Sept. 12.

`Mexican Standoff'

Unlike when the Fed committed $29 billion to help JPMorgan take over Bear Stearns Cos. in March, Lehman has access to a lending facility for brokers that would permit an orderly process for unwinding the firm, the person said.

Paulson stepped in last week to guarantee the debt and mortgage-backed securities of home-loan financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

If the government's resistance to fund the purchase lowers the price offered for Lehman, Fuld could balk as well, said Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

``We might have a Mexican standoff, with two guys holding guns to each others' heads but nobody firing,'' Hintz said.

Lehman hired the New York law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP to advise the company on a potential bankruptcy filing, the Journal reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information.

AIG, WaMu

The government is pushing for a quick resolution because Paulson is concerned panic may spread to other financial institutions, Ladenburg Thalmann's Bove said. American International Group Inc., the largest U.S. insurer, and Seattle- based lender Washington Mutual Inc. each plummeted in New York trading last week on speculation about their financial health.

AIG may move up plans to raise capital or sell assets after the shares plunged 46 percent, according to a person familiar with the company. WaMu, which fell 36 percent, may sell parts of its nationwide bank-branch network to raise cash, according L. William Seidman, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

A Lehman sale may be possible without government backing, an analysis of Lehman's distressed mortgage assets shows. In a worst-case scenario -- with the assets discounted more deeply than in recent distressed sales -- a buyer could write off almost half of Lehman's mortgage holdings and still have $7 billion of equity left in company, based on figures the investment bank disclosed when it reported third-quarter financial results last week.

`Massive Discount'

``The firm should be worth something even after the troubled assets are taken out at a massive discount because Lehman has a good franchise,'' said Corne Biemans, a Boston- based senior portfolio manager at Fortis Investments, which oversees about $200 billion. ``There are distressed asset buyers who should be interested in this stuff at such serious haircuts.''

Lehman's mortgage-related assets have been marked down to between 29 cents and 85 cents on the dollar. Reducing valuations further to between 5 cents on the dollar for collateralized debt obligations and 35 cents for European mortgages would result in $21 billion of further writedowns. Shareholders' equity was $28 billion at the end of firm's fiscal quarter in August.

[DC89]

Entrar num título completamente bearish não será apanhar uma daquelas grandes facas em queda

Cumps.

Neste caso até tenho outra metafora que tambem se adequada a este tipo de situação...

Na minha opinião é mais como retirar a patilha de segurança a uma granada, manda-la para o ar e rezar para que quando a apanhar não exploda.

[MozHawk]

Ya never know...

New York Fed Holds Emergency Meeting On Lehman's Future
By DAMIAN PALETTA, SUSANNE CRAIG and DEBORAH SOLOMON
September 13, 2008 12:17 a.m.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York held an emergency meeting Friday night with top Wall Street executives to discuss the future of venerable firm Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the parlous state of U.S. financial markets.

The meeting, which began at 6 p.m., was called by the New York Fed in an attempt to find a solution to the problems plaguing Lehman. The group, which consisted of the heads of most major financial institutions, is expected to meet throughout the weekend to see if it can agree on some way to rescue the ailing firm, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has made it clear to participants that no government bailout should be expected, this person said. Representatives of the banks plan to continue meeting to try and forestall a collapse of Lehman, which could hurt their firms and Wall Street in general.

In attendance from were government officials, including New York Fed President Timothy Geithner, Mr. Paulson and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox. The Wall Street executives included Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack, Merrill Lynch Chief Executive John Thain, J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs Group CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Citigroup Inc. head Vikram Pandit and representatives from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Bank of New York Mellon Corp., among others.

The meeting appeared similar to one a decade ago when the New York Fed pulled together top Wall Street executives to prevent the collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management.

One big issue: Most of the firms at the meeting have themselves been hit with big losses and may not have the excess capital to step in.

"Senior representatives of major financial institutions met at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Friday evening to discuss recent market conditions," a spokesman for the New York Fed said. The SEC issued a similar statement.

The future of Lehman could open a new chapter in the government's handling of the financial crisis, which is sweeping up an increasing number of firms, including American International Group Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc.

If the meeting helps engineer a rescue for the firm that doesn't involve government funding, it would represent a new approach for the Bush administration and Mr. Paulson, who has in the past six months helped intervene to break up Bear Stearns Cos. and organize a government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

As of late Friday, Mr. Paulson appeared unwilling to support a government-led bailout of Lehman, people familiar with the situation say. Mr. Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke don't see a need to structure a Bear-like rescue. In part, that's because Lehman and other investment banks already have access to Fed borrowing facilities created after Bear's collapse. As of Wednesday, no investment banks had tapped the facilities since July.

Lehman's troubles have also been well-known for a while, giving market participants "time to prepare," according to those familiar with the government's thinking. The government, which took over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae last weekend, could face a public backlash if it continues to prop up troubled financial institutions.

Because the 158-year-old Lehman does business with several other Wall Street firms, the damage from any failure there could have widespread effects. It was precisely that concern that prompted the U.S. in March to orchestrate the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. to J.P. Morgan and limit the bank's exposure to bad assets on Bear's books.

As of late Friday, Bank of America Corp. was seen as the likeliest buyer, but Lehman and its investment bankers also were meeting with other potential bidders, including Barclays PLC and HSBC PLC, both of the U.K. Other parties were looking only at pieces of Lehman, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. interested in some of the securities firm's huge real-estate portfolio.

But suitors like Bank of America, worried about the risk of buying an ailing financial institution like Lehman, want the government to step in with a package similar to what was offered to J.P. Morgan when it bought Bear. Then, the federal government agreed to absorb as much as $29 billion in losses. In seeking a Lehman deal, Bank of America Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth D. Lewis is likely to face a tough sell to investors if he doesn't secure some federal government backing.

The government's rescues of Bear, Fannie and Freddie have already been criticized from politicians on both sides of the aisle. Mr. Paulson is expected to face tough inquiries on Tuesday when he appears before the Senate Banking Committee to answer questions about the takeover of Fannie and Freddie.

While talks continued Friday, Lehman was working on dual tracks. On the one hand, executives were negotiating to find a buyer for the company. At the same time, the company was moving ahead on other business, with bids for a stake in the pre-announced auction for its investment management unit due Friday night. The firm is also still planning to release its fiscal third-quarter earnings on Thursday.

[atomez]

Eu nunca iria por aí.

U.S. Gives Banks Urgent Warning to Solve Crisis

By ERIC DASH
Published: September 12, 2008

Three top government officials convened the heads of Wall Street’s biggest investment banks for an emergency meeting on Friday evening at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to personally impress upon them the need to find a plan to rescue Lehman Brothers and stabilize the financial markets.

Timothy F. Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank, called a 6 p.m. meeting so that bank officials could review their financial exposures to Lehman Brothers and begin developing contingency plans over the possibility that the government would need to orchestrate an orderly liquidation of the firm, according to people briefed on the situation. Flanked by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and C. Christopher Cox, he urged the executives that the industry needed to find a solution to the current crisis.

Mr. Geithner told the participants that an industry solution was needed, no matter what, and that it was not about any individual bank, according to two people briefed on the meeting but who did not attend. They said he told them that if the industry failed to solve the problem their individual banks might be next.

A spokesman for the New York Federal Reserve Bank in New York confirmed the meeting but declined to provide details on the discussions.

The Wall Street executives included John Mack, the chief executive of Morgan Stanley; John Thain, chief executive of Merrill Lynch; Jamie Dimon, chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase; Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of the Goldman Sachs Group; Vikram Pandit, chief executive of Citigroup; and representatives from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.

Policy makers fear that a failure of Lehman could ripple through the financial industry in cascading losses to other banks and investors. Those losses would come at a time when banks and securities firms are trying to overcome $500 billion in write downs.

The meeting was reminiscent of the circumstances that preceded the near-collapse 10 years go of Long Term Capital Management.

At that time, William J. McDonough, then the president of the New York Fed, summoned the heads of big Wall Street banks to the Fed to stop the failure of L.T.C.M., a hedge fund firm in Connecticut that had made big bets on esoteric securities using borrowed money and had already lost $4.5 billion.

The bankers ended up committing $3.65 billion to save L.T.C.M., though Bear Stearns, the hedge fund’s clearing broker, famously refused to contribute to the investment. Traders from the banks wound down the fund over time, averting what might have been big losses across the financial system.

One observer briefed on the situation described the session as high-stakes “game of chicken” between the government and the heads of the major banks. Bank of America and Barclays are bidding for the troubled company.

Bank officials were there to review their exposure to Lehman Brothers and develop contingency plans, according to people briefed on the situation. Officials also raised the possibility that if there were no buyers for Lehman Brothers, they might need to orchestrate an orderly liquidation of the firm.

The government officials position with Lehman Brothers is in stark contrast to its handling of Bear Stearns and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Six months ago, the Federal Reserve lent JPMorgan Chase & Company $29 billion to engineer its shotgun takeover of Bear Stearns, the venerable but deeply troubled Wall Street firm.

Less than one week ago, the Treasury pledged up to $200 billion to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage finance companies.

But as policy makers tried to engineer an eerily similar takeover and rescue for Lehman Brothers, Treasury and Fed officials told the company and its potential suitors on Friday that the government had no plans to put taxpayer money on the line.

Perhaps the biggest reason for the sang-froid is that Fed officials as well as Wall Street institutions had months of advance warning about Lehman’s problems and far more time than they had with Bear Stearns to assess the potential domino effects, or “systemic risk,” that a collapse might pose.

By the time Lehman’s shares went into a spiral this week, Fed and Treasury officials were convinced that Lehman posed far fewer real risks than Bear Stearns had back in March.

The confidence by Washington officials stemmed from the fact that, after the Bear Stearns collapse, they obtained stronger regulatory powers that gave them the ability to peer into the activities and risk exposures of institutions on Wall Street.

Fed officials, for example, are now embedded at each of the big Wall Street investment banks and have at least some capacity gauge the firms’ exposure to hedge funds and other big players, as well as their positions in financial derivatives and other opaque markets. Fed and Treasury officials have also been taking the daily pulse of executives and traders on Wall Street for months, and much of that discussion has been about Lehman.

Officials detected a rising number of defections by Lehman’s institutional customers to other firms, but nothing near the panic that caused Wall Street executives to bombard Mr. Paulson with dire warnings about a Bear Stearns collapse in March.

Fed officials also saw few signs that fears about the future of the investment bank were spilling over to fears about its customers and trading partners.

And in practice, taxpayers could still end up on the hook for at least as much money as they were in the case of Bear Stearns. Lehman’s successor will still be able to borrow from the Fed’s new lending program for major investment banks, which the Fed created in response to the collapse of Bear Stearns in March. If Lehman were to borrow money and then default on its loans, the Fed’s losses would reduce the amount of money it turns over to the Treasury.

For political and economic reasons, both the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department are loath to save financial institutions from their own folly.

But as the housing crisis has deepened, they have abandoned free-market orthodoxy, fearing that the collapse of institutions like Bear Stearns or either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac could cripple the financial markets, and perhaps the economy itself.

Treasury and Fed officials are still making up the rules as they go and relying heavily on judgment. If they do see a panic in the marketplace, the hard talk about tough love is likely to evaporate.

One of the biggest differences between the challenge facing Lehman and the one that faced Bear Stearns is the availability of the Fed’s emergency lending program for investment banks.

When confidence evaporated in Bear, with major hedge funds pulling their prime brokerage accounts, Bear’s financing ran out almost overnight, creating a panic situation. Lehman has had the power to plug any cash shortfalls by borrowing from the Fed, though it has not actually borrowed any money from the program since March.

[hmsferreira]

Tenho uma ordem pendente para entrar...

Como é 6ª feira (dia de euromilhões ) ... vou arricar perder uns cobres... e jogar numa solução do tipo da Bear Stearns...

De qualquer modo... vou-me conter ...

[Jesse James]

Entrar num título completamente bearish não será apanhar uma daquelas grandes facas em queda

Cumps.

Claro que é, e neste caso, o risco é total (perda total do investimento).

O que não invalida a probabilidade, ainda que ínfima, de ganhar dinheiro com a situação.

[rufa]

Entrar num título completamente bearish não será apanhar uma daquelas grandes facas em queda

Cumps.

[Jesse James]

Estava há minutos, no mínimo de 14 anos!

Aguardemos

[dreamkeeper2005]

Bom dia

A hipotese de venda desta, implica a descoberta dum investidor, que desatento ao que se passa no planeta decide comprar este lixo tóxico que envenenou o sistema financeiro em geral e a Lehman em particular.

Não vejo como um grupo privado, com os seus accionistas, decida investir para salvar a Lehman e o mercado duma nova queda. Quando todos os participantes directos no mercado e potenciais interessados têm já graves problemas com que se debater.

A aparecer será no tipico "salto para a frente" de quem já está na borda do precipicio e compra a Lehman para redimensionar a sua própria possibilidade de salvação.

Ou então é o Tesouro dos USA que perante a dimensão do cataclismo intervém de algum modo, directo como nas FM'S ou indirecto como com a Bear via JPMorgan.

Este titulo pode continuar a descer 30% e 40% por dia, e ainda assim já valer menos que zero.

Abraço

[Jesse James]

Acho que pode estar aqui uma oportunidade, arriscada concerteza, mas de elevado potencial.

Em quatro dias, desceu cerca de 75%, e ytd, cerca de 93%.

O rumor do buyout, impulsionou Wall Street, mas não o próprio título!!

Será que compensa, neste caso, aquela máxima, comprar no rumor...??

Mesmo que não encontrem comprador, depois das medidas governamentais em relação às FM, existirá espaço para ficar de bracinhos cruzados a ver o colosso caír? Não me parece muito plausível.

A ver vamos

Um abraço,

JJ