More Broker Downgrades Push Down Stocks
“We expect writedowns in fixed income inventory and a slowdown in M&A and origination activity to negatively impact results for all the brokers.”
– JP Morgan Analyst Kenneth Worthington (subscription required), in a note this morning downgrading the brokers
“In sum, the nature of the core businesses operated by the brokers has turned negative basically across the board.”
– Punk Ziegel Analyst Richard Bove (subscription required), in a note late Monday downgrading Goldman, Bear and Lehman to “Sell” (he already had Merrill and Morgan at “Sell”)
JP Morgan this morning cut 4th quarter and 2008 earnings estimates on a bunch of brokers and Punk Ziegel late yesterday downgraded Goldman, Bear and Lehman to “Sell” (it already had Merrill and Morgan at “Sell”).
These downgrades, following similar ones by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, are weighing on stocks this morning and leading to a mild selloff.