Another Day, Another Firm Confirms No Bonuses For Top Dogs
Lewis said in a memo: 'This was a difficult decision because we have worked hard and made progress on many projects that will create value for our company in future years'. In the meantime, BofA also confirmed the it had taken some profits by selling some $2.8bn of the stock it holds in China Construction Corp. The sale represents 13% of Bank of America's holding.
Bank of America's John Thain has moved quickly to replace Bob McCann, the man who told him Monday that he now longer wanted to run Merrill Lynch's brokerage operation and was off. Dan Sontag, previously head of wealth management for the Americas, is moving into McCann's old job.
Reuters reports that shares in UBS fell 1.8% in trading in Zurich Tuesday, on concerns about the firm's earnings outlook. On a more positive note, the news agency reports that BlackRock executive Bob Doll expects the US stock market to rise between 7% - 12% in 2009. Doll said at a press briefing Tuesday: 'With record fiscal and monetary stimulus, substantially lower oil prices, much cheaper valuations, significant negative sentiment and lots of cash on the sidelines, it is likely that stocks will begin to look 'over the valley' sometime in 2009, and experience a noticeable rally'.
The Daily Telelgraph reports that US hedge fund Och-Ziff, run by former Goldman Sachs partner Daniel Och, has confirmed that its funds fell 25% in December to $22bn.
The Financial Times reports that Fidelity Investments has appointed Peter Cieszko, the former CEO of Evergreen (part of Wachovia) as president of its institutional services business. And former Citi exec Ed Orazem comes aboard to head the firm's family office services.
Finally, The Wall Street Journal reports that a US federal judge in New Orleans has upheld the conviction of former Enron boss Jeff Skilling, but has ordered that he be given a new sentence after finding that the original trial judge imposed an unreasonably long jail term (Skilling got 24 years).
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