another one bites the dust

Will they, or won't they? According to the New York Times, Lehmen Brothers is set to fold tomorrow. According to the BBC, it's "too big to fail".

In terms of size, Lehman trails behind its big three rivals in the US securities market - Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. But financial experts still see it as too big to be allowed to go under.

"The US government cannot let Lehman fail, because the systemic ripples would be too big," says banking analyst James Hyde at European Credit Management in London.

We'll see what really happens tomorrow morning. Also for our viewing pleasure - the continued meltdown of the global economy, as a result of this news.

Not that it's a direct, equal comparison, but people said Enron was too big and important to go down too. Oops.

Le Monde is reporting that a bunch of banks have pooled resources to stop the carnage. The article says the include "Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, la britannique Barclays, l'allemande Deutsche Bank et les suisses Crédit Suisse et UBS". Noticeably absent from that list is Lehman, which probably bodes ill.