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In the News:

Where are the Pros Putting Their Cash?
Money magazine asked several financial experts: What are you doing with your own portfolio in the wake of the financial crisis?
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/moneymag/0810/gallery.crisis_pros.moneymag/index.html

As the Economy Sinks So Do the Odds of a Tax Cut
One of the riskiest financial moves you make this year could be listening to the presidential candidates-and banking on a tax cut after the November elections. John McCain and Barack Obama both promise that widespread tax cuts will be one major way they'll revive the economy and help lift consumers' sagging spirits. But here's what you're not likely to hear either candidate say before Election Day on November 4: There's no money left for tax cuts.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/flowchart/2008/10/9/as-the-economy-sinks-so-do-odds-of-a-tax-cut.html

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the safety theme will come back if only because these companies' earnings will be good in six months.

Editor's note: Jim Cramer will present his 2009 stock outlook for the first time at TheStreet.com Investment Conference on Saturday, Oct. 25. Click for details.

Now they come after the Procter & Gambles (NYSE: PG) (Cramer's Take) and the General Mills (NYSE: GIS) (Cramer's Take) and the like, betting that the action will be better in the cyclicals with all of this money being printed worldwide.

Commodities are also coming back because of reflation. And we have to feel that many of the infra and ag names are finally sold out by the hedge fund redemptions.

Here I am speaking of a Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take), with its good yield and a belief that the hedge funds are at last done.

I don't buy it. I like a balanced portfolio, but I want to buy the GIS/PG all the way down because we are going into a recession, not going out of one. These companies pay dividends, raise dividends and have great commodity tailwinds.

Colgate's (NYSE: CL) (Cramer's Take) down a lot too, and I am liking that one.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) has dropped out of the bidding for damaged bank Wachovia (NYSE: WB). It may be glad it did. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) won the battle for Wachovia Corp. as rival suitor Citigroup Inc. walked away from compromise negotiations because of worries about the quality of some of Wachovia's assets."

Citi wanted the FDIC to put a safety net under the value of some of Wachovia's assets. Investors and analysts viewed the Wells Fargo bid as better because it valued Wachovia's share price at a higher level and did not involve any government guarantees at all.

The lack of government guarantees and the likelihood that Wachovia's balance sheet is getting worse each day could cause Wells Fargo to pass on a buyout just as Citi did. In a credit crisis as severe as this one, it is almost certain that the value of bank assets is dropping due to mortgage-backed paper and weak loans. Wachovia has been viewed as having a balance sheet that is worse than any other large American banks. That would make it likely that its situation has gone from being troubled to being desperate.

At this point, the odds have to be 50/50 that Well Fargo will either disappear or sharply drop the value of its offer.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com

U.S. stock futures were significantly lower Friday morning, a day after the Dow industrials had already plunged 678 points. The Dow dropped 21% in the past 10 days. U.S. stock markets are looking to join the plunge in global markets as Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 9.6%, Hong Kong Hang Seng dropped 7%, London's FTSE 100 declined 5.5% and the German DAX 30 was down 8% to name but a few that have managed to remain open. Some global markets actually had to close today, prompting the name "Black Friday."

Wednesday's coordinated rate cut didn't seem to loosen frozen credit markets as investors seem to completely lose confidence in the world's financial system. Finance officials from the G7 are meeting in Washington Friday to address the financial meltdown. On the economic front, August trade data and September import prices will be released. Oil prices plummeted to a one-year low of $82 a barrel.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) -- meanwhile this morning, GE reported results that met the lowered expectations. GE's profit fell 22% to $4.3 billion, or 43 cents per share, compared with $5.56 billion, or 54 cents, a year earlier. GE's revenue climbed 11% to $47.23 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of 45 cents a share on revenue of $47.34 billion. GE recently got a $3 billion infusion from Buffett's Berkshire and raised $12.2 billion through a stock offering. Shares of GE are down about 1% in pre-market trading.

AIG (NYSE:AIG) has now borrowed $70 billion of the $123 billion made available to it by the Fed. It has to sell assets to become self-funding and the question is whether it can do that quickly in a credit crisis. If not, the government will be faced with putting more money into the insurer or watching it fail. Given the seriousness of an AIG failure and the waves of financial problems it would send though the markets, the Fed is probably on the hook for whatever AIG needs.

In the banking part of the US economy, banks and brokerages took record levels of loans from the Fed's emergency discount window. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Total average daily borrowing climbed to $420.16 billion from $367.80 billion in the prior week." If banks stocks continue to fall and depositors continue to withdraw money, the pressure on the Fed's lending facility may grow. Average daily lending could certainly move well above $500 billion per day.

Lending money to banks may not be an adequate measure to keep them sound. The Treasury needs to start buying banks shares as quickly as possible becoming a major stockholder in financial companies in exchange for billions of dollars in capital This process needs to begin immediately so that the system does not move through serial collapses of its weakest companies like Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Wachovia (NYSE: WB).

Time for the Fed and Treasury to step up to the plate.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

This afternoon, Citigroup (NYSE: C) chose to walk away from its discussions to acquire Wachovia (NYSE: WB) but Citi will revive its $60 billion lawsuit against Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). Meanwhile, with its $122 billion portfolio of toxic option ARM mortgages -- which add gaps in borrowers' monthly payments to the loan principal -- Wachovia may be too radioactive for Wells Fargo to buy.

How did we get here? On September 29th, Citi thought it had a deal to buy Wachovia's banking operations for $2.2 billion -- Citi would absorb the first $42 billion in losses and stick the FDIC with the rest. In exchange, the FDIC would get $12 billion worth of Citi preferred stock. Last Thursday, Wells Fargo announced a deal to buy all of Wachovia for $15 billion without costing the FDIC anything. Citi sued, the FDIC encouraged the three parties to split the baby, and this afternoon Citi decided to withdraw.

But now that the field is open for Wells Fargo, should it continue with the deal or has it learned that Wachovia's bad assets will make the deal too costly? Although Wachovia would give Wells $448 billion in deposits in 3,300 branches in 21 states, it also has $122 billion worth of option ARM mortgages. These mortgages are likely to default in huge numbers over the next few years. That's because the average option ARM holder will see a 63% rise in monthly payments -- for an additional $1,053 per month. With the economy likely to deteriorate, that could burn a big hole in Wells' $48 billion in capital.

A settlement may be close in the battle of whether Citigroup (NYSE: C) or Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) ends up owning Wachovia (NYSE: WB). Wells Fargo came in with what was considered a winning bid after Citi thought it already had a deal.

An appellate court has ruled against a stay requested by Citi. Most investors and the Wachovia board appear to think the Wells Fargo deal is better for investors. It also does not involve money from the FDIC which the Citi purchase did. That has to be attractive to the government.

To get the fighting over, it appears that Wells Fargo will get about 75% of the WB deposits and Citi will get the rest. According to Reuters, "Analysts said it may make sense for Citigroup to get at least some assets in the transaction because the bank worked with the FDIC on the deal and supported Wachovia financially last week."

But, with the banking industry falling apart, does either bank want Wachovia? Its assets, especially mortgage-backed paper, could be falling in value every day. Some bank stocks were down as much as 20% yesterday on concerns about their liquidity and ability to stay in business.

Citi and Wells Fargo may be better off letting Wachovia fail and picking up the pieces at a fire sale. It has become that dangerous to be a big US bank taking on assets which could potentially have huge problems. Honoring deals has become a thing of the past. Fear has trumped honor

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) have reached a temporary cease-fire in the battle to acquire Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB). Late Monday, federal officials urged the dueling suitors to lay down their legal weapons and attempt a compromise in hopes of avoiding a protracted standoff in court. According to reports, new discussions between the banks and the Fed could lead to a division of Wachovia's assets between the two sparring suitors.

For those of you just joining this banking soap opera in progress: Citigroup agreed last Monday to acquire Wachovia's banking operations, with a little help from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). However, last Friday, Wells Fargo emerged with a financially superior bid to acquire Wachovia in its entirety, which eventually prompted Citigroup to file suit against its rival.

Today's news has sparked heavy volume on Wachovia's October 5 put option. This contract has seen 22,371 contracts cross the tape today on open interest of 57,273. This could indicate that many speculators are betting that the Wells Fargo bid won't go through -- at least, not in its entirety. That bid priced Wachovia at approximately $7 per share, compared to $1 per share under the terms of the Citigroup deal, according to Bloomberg.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

Short selling sounds un-American -- hey, it's about making money when securities fall. Yet, it has been a part of markets for centuries.

But when markets undergo periods of extreme stress, then people look for villains. Of course, short selling is an easy target.

It should not be surprising then that the Securities and Exchange Commission recently banned short selling for hundreds of financial stocks. Somehow, the hope was that it would stem the market slide.

Well, the markets have continued to crash.

Interestingly enough, one of the top investors in the world -- Pershing Square's William Ackman, speaking at Value Investing Congress in New York – thinks that the ban was one of the main factors for the loss of investor confidence.

Keep in mind that hedge funds have become a dominant player in the financial markets. They have come to rely on short selling and without the ability to make such trades, hedge funds got squeezed. As a result, there was a massive unwinding of positions.

Although, there is a silver lining. The plunge has resulted in a disconnection between fundamentals and pricing. In other words, there appear to be some compelling opportunities in the markets.

In fact, it looks like Ackman is already capitalizing on his savvy purchase of 180 million shares of Wachovia (NYSE: WB) when it got an offer from Citigroup (NYSE: C) last week. It was one of his first longs on financials in the past five years.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website

In the News:
7 Great Companies for $7 or Less
These battered stocks are ripe for a rebound. They include Animal Health International, Build-a-Bear Workshop, Blockbuster, Global Cash Access Holdings, Great Wolf Resorts, Hackett Group and Spansion.
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2008/11/7_cheap_stocks.html

Biggest Losers: 15 Stocks That Have Plummeted This Year
The following list is of selected familiar names and large stocks that have plunged significantly over these time periods. It does not include the obvious names such as AIG, Wachovia, GM and the likes, but decent stocks we all liked and knew over the years. Among them are Alcoa, American Express, Apple, Boeing, Citigroup, Dell, eBay, General Electric, Google, Merck, Motorola, Sprint Nextel, Research in Motion, Sirius XM and Whole Foods are all down significantly more than 25% which is what the Dow is off in 2008.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/10/06/big-losers-15-large-stocks-that-have-plummeted/

Everything is upside down these days. The folks with all the money and multi-million dollar bonuses are begging for a handout on the pretext that the economy will crash if they do not get one. We're not talking money for coffee or a snack, we're talking billions of dollars.

It is crashing anyway, or at least sinking. It is just a matter of what it takes down along the way. Apparently, the folks at the Treasury and Federal Reserve are now convinced that it will be everything.

The survivors are pawing at the defeated as Wells Fargo tries to grab Wachovia despite its previous tentative agreement with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). While Citigroup gained a point in Wachovia deal over the weekend, the balance has since tilted in favor of Wells Fargo again.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) gobbled up Countrywide (done) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) (a work in progress), while JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) corralled Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM).

Sadly, only the federal government was big enough to swallow the problems of American International Group (NYSE: AIG), Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE). Otherwise,those in the know think world financial markets would have crumbled due to the collateral damage, (pun intended).

When I posted Congress is screwing up -- think backstop not bailout!, I was concerned with the psychological effect as much as the financial effect of not approving the funding, but no doubt the people suffering the most are not those who created the pain.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says he's not buying here, because prices are going even lower.

Here it is, the dawning of the selloff that will finally put us at levels where ... we will sell off again.

For two years the credit markets have been submerged under central bank happy talk and a sense that the worries were about inflation. You can see why in the outlines of the institutions that are failing now.

The problem is the Europeans got stuck fighting the inflationary war that ended in July. Rates are ridiculously high in Europe vs. the crunching of debt that is happening and will continue to happen.

In our country, the "Fundamentals are Sound" group at Treasury, and the "Whip Inflation Now" group at the Federal Reserve couldn't switch fast enough either.

But boy, are they great at public relations. There has been remarkable awe at how well Treasury, the Fed and the FDIC are handling the crisis.

It appears that the New York Fed is stepping in to help decide whether Citigroup (NYSE: C) or Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) will end up buying Wachovia (NYSE: WB). Both banks have made offers. Citigroup says its deal came first. Wells Fargo says its deal is better for shareholders and the FDIC.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Under the leading plan being discussed Sunday night, Citigroup and Wells Fargo would divvy up Wachovia's network of 3,346 branches along geographic lines." The FDIC would give no backing for Wachovia's assets.

The intervention by the Fed looks a bit more like the government socialism that has basically put the Fed and Treasury in charge of the banking system. In Wachovia's case it may be absolutely necessary. Maybe.

Wachovia's shares had lost 90% of their value before Citigroup made its bid. Because of the toxic assets on it books, Wachovia might have failed the way Washington Mutual did. The government would be left to help pick-up the pieces.

A long legal battle between Citigroup and Wells Fargo could leave Wachovia to fail.

But would its failure be such a bad thing? The FDIC might have to put in a huge sum to protect depositors. Then it could auction off the branch system. The toxic assets might be sold to a vulture fund with some government guarantees.

A lot of people would lose jobs, but is it the Fed's job to keep them employed? No.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

In the News:
Keeping Customers in a Crummy Economy
With recession expectations growing, some companies are taking extraordinary steps to hold on to customers. Telephone companies' offers for two months of free service and reduced rates, discounted gym membership renewals, and generous gift cards from high-end department stores all underscore a pervasive fear on Main Street: With the uncertainty around the credit seize-up, consumers may be digging in for a long hibernation.
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/oct2008/pi2008103_779103.htm?campaign_id=twxa

Why Do Failed CEOs Keep Getting Rehired?
Poor stock performance? Weak sales? No matter! If you were once a C.E.O., you can surely be one again. Failed CEOs like Home Depot's Bob Nardelli who ended up at Chrysler and American Airlines' Don Carty who is leading Virgin Atlantic failed CEOs regularly end up at the helm of other companies. Here's why.
http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2008/10/05/Why-Failed-CEOs-Get-Rehired

U.S. stock futures fell Monday morning, indicating a sharply lower open on Wall Street as the world's financial crisis rather than get a boost from the $700 billion rescue plan, seemed to have deepened in Europe. This as well as economic fears depressed world markets. Most major global markets plunged at least over 4%.

Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) -- After a lower court decided in favor of Citigroup (NYSE: C), a state appeals court blocked the ruling late Sunday night, thus tilting the battle over Wachovia in favor of Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). Both banks want Wachovia for its deposits and branches. Despite that, WB shares are down about 18% in pre-market trade, WFC's down 2.7% and C's down 3.7%.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) -- a subsidiary has agreed to modify loans to tens of thousands of borrowers -- previously Countrywide Financial clients -- in 11 states that would enable them to keep their homes, or even help them move to a new home. If all 50 states were to join, the settlement could provide $8.7 billion in relief to 400,000 borrowers. BAC shares are down 4.3% in pre-market action.

National City Corp. (NYSE: NCC) shares are down over 22% in pre-market action as its debt was downgraded by Fitch Ratings.