There are presently 19 primary dealers (the firms that deal directly with the Fed to provide liquidity to the banking system.) The Primary Government Securities Dealers reporting to the Government Securities Dealers Statistics Unit of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are:
BNP Paribas Securities
Solid.
Banc of America Securities
They were hit on Friday with a lawsuit over auction-rate securities.
Barclays Capital
Like everyone, had write-downs but is looking up again. Had a 7.4% surge at the closing bell on Friday.
Bear Stearns
Sad.
Cantor Fitzgerald
Newest prime dealer on the list; they were certified late last year. I always listen to the opinions of Marc Pado and Derrick Brown from Cantor.
Citigroup Global Markets
Citi has lost $32 billion in six months. I don’t know what’s wrong with them. I just can’t figure it out.
Credit Suisse
They just hired Lehman’s CFO, Erin Callan as head of hedge fund business. I’m curious to see the result of that hiring decision.
Daiwa Securities
Jeff Skilling would hate these guys. They’re establishing a brokerage in India.
Deutsche Bank
Quiet. Nothing to report.
Dresdner Kleinwort
Quiet.
Goldman Sachs
The gold standard. Love Goldman Sachs. Except they’re being accused of helping spread rumors about Bear Stearns and Lehman.
Greenwich Capital
Quiet.
HSBC
Heavily invested in mortgages and China. They’re offering savings accounts with an interest rate of 3.5%, which makes me unspeakably sad.
JP Morgan
Legacy deals!
Lehman Brothers
Save this fine company
Merrill Lynch
Poor Merrill. After $4.9 quarterly loss on bad mortgage assets and various smaller problems inside the company, they’re going to struggle valiantly for a few quarters.
Mizuho Securities
Opening a brokerage in Saudi Arabia.
Morgan Stanley
Generally quiet.
UBS
Quiet.
