In November 2008, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said that the financial crisis could lead to the loss of about 225,000 private sector positions in New York State over the next two years. The good news: many federal agencies are hiring.    Read More

The S&P 500 rose on Friday after the U.S. government said it would throw a $17.4 billion lifeline to automakers grappling with falling consumer demand.   Read More

At least there was some good economic news today: both CPI and core CPI were below expectations, so inflation concerns are indeed receding.    Read More

The US government will 1) take a $250 billion equity stake in the form of preferred shares which cannot be redeemed for three years, 2) guarantee bank-to-bank lending, and 3) remove deposit insurance levels for non-interest bearing accounts.   Read More

Want graphic evidence of how confused traders are? Stock futures rallied for a couple minutes on the Wells Fargo/Wachovia deal, then quickly dropped. Futures dropped again as non-farm payrolls came out below expectations, then rallied back a few minutes later.    Read More

In a mood reminiscent of WaMu-JP Morgan, the FDIC says Citi is buying Wachovia's banking operations, and assume the senior and subordinated debt.    Read More

What's your first bank trade if and when a bailout plan is passed?   Read More

Futures are down slightly, but that has little meaning these days. Many traders feel that yesterday's drop was due to: 1) distortions in price discovery created by the changing short sale rules; 2) the realization that many banks are still undercapitalized.    Read More

If you’re looking to trade during this mess you'll want to get far away from Wall Street. But how far?   Read More

Fannie Mae up 6 percent pre-open as the House overwhelmingly passed the housing bill. It will get new regulators for Fannie and Freddie, and authorizes the federal government to potentially invest billions in the two companies.    Read More