"The American financial system was shaken to its core on Sunday. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said it would file for bankruptcy protection, and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be sold to Bank of America Corp..." - The Wall Street Journal.
"In the biggest reshaping of the financial industry since the Great Depression, two of Wall Street's most storied firms, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., headed toward extinction." - Christine Harper at Bloomberg.
"We have been in ongoing discussions with market participants, including through the weekend, to identify potential market vulnerabilities in the wake of an unwinding of a major financial institution..." Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman.
"When the history books come to be written, September 15 stands some chance of going down as Black Monday.." - Martin Waller at the Times.
"I think the least we are going to have to learn from this is that the whole of the financial sector simply cannot return to where it was before... It is going to have to be much more tightly regulated in the public interest." - Vince Cable, former chief economist with Shell
"We are witnessing a turning point in the modern history of the financial system, as three major brokers have now disappeared from the scene. The coming days and weeks will be truly crucial to the global economic outlook." - Marco Annuziata, Global Chief Economist, Unicredit, London
"The U.S. financial system is finding the tectonic plates underneath its foundation are shifting like they have never shifted before... It's a new financial world on the verge of a complete reorganization..." - Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets.
"The stock market could absolutely disintegrate, but I don't think that's going to happen...I think there's going to be some relief if the markets to see Lehman go out of business and the world doesn't come to an end. I think people will be relieved that the Lehman thing will be over with one way or another. No one was going to step in and be a hero because there was no reason to be a hero." - Mike Holland, chairman of investment firm Holland & Co. and a former top executive at Salomon Brothers.
"It is unprecedented... When you look back to other periods of market turmoil, while you had single companies that did go out, you really didn't have the financial community crumble like a house of cards." - " Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's. Corp.
"I particularly appreciate the efforts of market participants who came together this weekend and initiated a set of steps to facilitate orderliness and stability in our financial markets as we work through this extraordinary environment..." - Hank Paulson, US Treasury Secretary.
"...Lehman is obviously creating uncertainty on how the counterparty risks work through, and how the derivatives exposures work through. It can't be a good thing and also the market is very worried about AIG..." - Rohan Wlash, Investment Manager at Kabara Capital
"This is a perfect storm in a perfect storm. There are two ways of looking at it: one, as financial Armageddon, the other as a dose of realisation of the level of complexity of the problem people are dealing with. It's a return to pure capitalism, the survival of the fittest - the government can't and won't bail everybody out" - Justin Urquhart Stewart, Investment Director at 7 Investment.
"Anyone else who has these toxic assets, if they haven't made a full confession, they better do it now...These assets may be hard to unwind, but they can unwind
your firm. Lehman tried to deny reality until the bitter end..." - Matt McCormick, portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel.
"Lehman's demise will not make things more transparent or increase the appetite for risk. Quite on the contrary, its failure raises perceptions of risk. The fall of the house of Lehman means that others in the same situation, i.e., not posing significant systemic risk are increasingly vulnerable..." - Brown Brothers Harrariman Strategists.
"The resume flow will start on Monday like there's no tomorrow...This is seriously going to impact compensation this year, across the Street and all over the world as well... The golden years of compensation in the financial services industry are over, and it doesn't help with the Bear Stearns people still looking for work." - Michael Karp, chief executive at executive search and consulting firm Options Group in New York.
"Some of these professionals are not going to get what they usually get because they're beggars, not choosers, and they're competing with others...(there will be) a lot less money for the state and the federal government...We're going to ride it out, but what it truly means for the tax base is that the government will have no option than to raise taxes..." - Gustavo Dolfino, president at New York-based recruiting firm WhiteRock.
"We looked at Lehman very hard... And we finally told the government that for us to do it would require some [federal] assistance. The government said it couldn't provide assistance this time, which we understood. And we said, 'OK, we just can't do it.' But then this opportunity with Merrill Lynch came up..." - Unattributed person who is 'well-acquainted' with the thinking of Bank of America.
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