Lehman Posts First Loss Ever: Almost $3 Billion in 2nd Quarter

If you needed any more evidence that the loss party on Wall Street isn’t anywhere near an end, just look at the whopping $2.8 billion loss posted by Lehman.  This is the first loss ever posted by the Wall Street investment giant:

“(Businessweek)  Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard Fuld on Monday took the blame for the company’s stunning second-quarter loss of nearly $3 billion, and said the investment bank was too slow in reacting to the market’s tumult.

“This is my responsibility,” Fuld declared. “We made active decisions to deploy our capital, some of which in hindsight were poor choices because we really didn’t act quickly enough to the eroding environment.”

Fuld, sounding agitated during a conference call with analysts, said the company has “made a number of changes and now it is now my job to make sure we execute.” Along with recording the bank’s first loss since going public in 1994, Lehman last week raised $6 billion of fresh capital and demoted its chief financial officer and chief operating officer.”

Make sure you watch your portfolio closely this year or rebalance if you are heavy on the financials.  We’ll be seeing more of this as the year goes by.

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