Lehman Brothers Liquidation Looks Likely
Undoubtedly, you already know this news. Lehman Brothers (LEH) will file for bankruptcy protection, as they couldn't seem to sell themselves this weekend. Additionally, Merill Lynch looks like it will be bought out by Bank of America for around $25-30 a share ($29 a share offer being voted on). Lastly, AIG will be restructuring. If you want more info on all this than you can handle, just head to any major financial publication
, as the news is all over the place. I'm not here to regurgitate this news. Instead, I want to turn my focus to a way to possibly play this madness. In the event that LEH does liquidate, the following stocks will undoubtedly trade lower. Why, do you ask? Well, because they are some of
LEH's top holdings.
The List
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General Electric (GE)
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Pfizer (PFE)
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Target (TGT)
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UBS (UBS)
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Linn Energy (LINE)
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GLG Partners (GLG)
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Merck (MRK)
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Microsoft (MSFT)
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Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)
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Bank of America (BAC)
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Apple (AAPL)
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Flagstone Reinsurance (FSR)
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Wellpoint (WLP)
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Walmart (WMT)
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Exxon Mobil (XOM)
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United Health Group (UNH)
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Google (GOOG)
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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
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Baidu (BIDU)
A few names from the list I want to highlight: Firstly, Bank of America (BAC) has been actively involved in all the talks this weekend and for all intensive purposes it looks as if they'll pick up Merrill Lynch (MER). I think the market sells off BAC simply because MER is not in the best of shape, and it looks like they'll be overpaying for the deal. If MER needs to be rescued, BAC could surely pick them up for much cheaper than where they're trading now.
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