♦ In a extraordinarily bold move, the U.S. will use $250 billion to take equity stakes in major financial institutions like Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase as part of an effort to restore confidence in the system, unlock the credit markets and "avoid financial collapse." [WSJ, NYT]
♦ The government's move isn't unprecedented, although not everyone is very happy with the "partial nationalization" approach. [NYT, WaPo]
♦ Global markets continued to rise overnight as investors responded to news of the government's plan. [Bloomberg]
♦ Notwithstanding the bailout, some hedge fund titans like Steve Cohen, John Paulson, and Israel Englander are staying on the sidelines and keeping their billions in cash. [WSJ]

♦ Steve Schwarzman is hopeful about the U.S. government's plans to inject cash into banks. [Dealbook]
♦ Morgan Stanley is out of the woods for the moment, but John Mack still has his work cut out for him. [WSJ]
♦ "Goldman Sachs waltzed Warren Buffett. Morgan Stanley tangoed with the Japanese. Bank of America got down with Merrill Lynch." So is Vikram Pandit feeling like the odd man out these days? [NYT]
♦ Goldman Sachs is applying for a New York state charter for its new banking unit rather than a federal charter, which means it won't have branches in Tulsa. [NYT, WSJ]
♦ Banco Santander has acquired the part of Sovereign Bancorp it did not own for $1.9 billion. [Bloomberg]
♦ Steve Feinberg's Cerberus Capital, owns 80 percent of Chrysler, says it has no plans to divest its stake in Chrysler and will hold a stake in a combined company if Chrysler merges. [Reuters]
♦ Wells Fargo & Co. is likely to sell or scale back the investment-banking business it's acquiring with the purchase of Wachovia. [Bloomberg]
♦ Hank Greenberg has proposed changes in the bailout of AIG to keep it solvent. [WSJ]