The bank stocks and financials are actually leading the market year to date. I tell you six months ago it was a totally different picture. We were in the hole. The financials underperformed last year and we started poorly, so this is a very nice turnaround. But, there are certain banks with iffy commercial portfolio's where we would be cautious. There are some regional banks that we like, too. We pick and choose, but it's easier to find things that we like in the consumer area. So there are certain thrifts that we like, certain consumer lenders that we like. |
The first thing we do is we get ice and we mix up a big cooler of Gatorade and these guys drink Gatorade and water. |
There are certain conversations we aren't having with companies, (so) our estimates aren't as good, |
There was a three- or four-day period (after the NFC title game) where we were getting pretty frazzled. Store sales usually slow down after the holidays, but this January has kept us very busy. |
There's a lot of faith and confidence in this management team. This may be more change in executive suite than investors are happy to see. |
These guys work pretty hard, so if they need to take a break we let them take a break, especially this time of year when we are really really busy. |
What it is that makes Morgan Morgan would disappear, |
You can't keep throwing us around. Accommodate your own people. |
You've got an incredibly fragile link into Wellington. Having only one primary access into Wellington seems nuts. You have one big earthquake and you have no road. |
You've seen several commercial banks make acquisitions of smaller regional brokerage firms this year, and all of them believe quite sincerely that they are going to grow revenues as a result and gain market share because they now offer one-stop comprehensive financing for their customers. At the same time I don't think Merrill Lynch is planning to lose any business. |