Some stuff I read online 4/1/08

The market is rallying nicely this morning on news that UBS is writing off $19B and Lehman is raising $4B (Note that Lehman is raising money not because they say they need it but because there are persistent bankruptcy rumors on LEH and they want to put them to rest). The Lehman offer is actually oversubscribed and is trading at a premium. When the market goes up…WAY UP…on bad news, that is a good sign for the bulls. Let’s hope that things do not get overheated too quickly and have as retrenchment as quickly as the run up. Volatility has been the name of the game of late so time will tell if this holds.

National City (NCC) has hired Goldman Sachs to help it pursue strategic options for the business. Widely speculated, this confirms that NCC is looking for a buyer for the business. The talking heads are saying this may be a big turning point for the market depending on what kind of a premium NCC might fetch in the market. A decent premium may just spur a big (or bigger) rally in financials.

Here is today’s list of interesting articles I have read online.

Reuters is reporting that Google is going to allow offline editing of Google Docs files. The technology, made possible by Google Gears, will allow users to update files when not connected to the net and will sync once they reconnect. I have often thought this was a fabulous idea and were this to come bundled with something like what the Palm Foleo was to be or what the eee PC is, I think you have a “killer ap”.

Google starts letting users edit documents offline

Rob Carrick over at The Globe and Mail has a great piece on the investment value of Canadian Financial institutions and uses input from StockPointer to EVA rank the FI’s.

Thinking of buying the banks?


Citigroup re-organized yesterday and sparked further speculation that the company may be split up. The most likely candidate for spin-off appears to be the credit card business which was re-organized under a global banner and split from the rest of the business.

Citigroup restructures, breaks out cards as new unit

Thanks for reading…

Disclosure: Long Citi (C) and National City (NCC)