Think Wall Street is going to disappear? Don’t bet on it.
By Daniel at 23 September, 2008, 7:51 am
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Things have been happening pretty fast, but it’s kind
of funny how quickly people have come to some ironclad conclusions: Wall Street
as we know it is dead. Risk is gone. Trading is over. Deposits are king.
Goodbye, Dick Fuld and credit-default swaps. Hello, Ken Lewis and three-year
certificates of deposit.
If only it were true. Wall Street is wounded, but far from dead. There are many
firms ready to step up to the other side of the trade and provide leverage to
make the markets nice and dangerous again. Some of those market participants may
be newly minted commercial bank holding companies.
“These guys aren’t stupid,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis
Trading, a buy-side advisory firm. “Right now, the first thing they’re doing is
saving themselves … someone will fill the void.”
Late Sunday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) said they will
become bank holding companies. Everywhere, Monday morning, there were epitaphs
for Wall Street.
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