[caudicus]

Well, I don't know the internals but Merrill might have a better balance sheet than Lehman. Also, BOA might be trying the whole "get too big to fail" thing - riding the wave of moral hazard and hoping for a government bail out if they ever hit the rocks hard.

[incomethax]

So they're trying to replicate Bear? If they were, then paying $25-$30/share for Merill would be teh FAIL. Merrill most definitely has a better balance sheet (given the stockholder's equity section) than Lehman, and also less exposure to the types of risky securities that are failing.

I for one wouldn't want to be in ownership of any financial in this market.

On a side note, money seems to be going through almost a daily rotation of sectors. One day tech's up while everything else is down, the next day its biotech, commodities etc.. Tomorrow is going to be a down day for financials, which has meant an up day for techs in recent days. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.