The Confidence Is Back
Wall Street is feeling flush, clearly. Yesterday afternoon, a "resurgent" Bank of America announced that it plans to repay the $45 billion in government aid it received during the darkest days of the financial crisis last fall. And while you might expect that Goldman Sachs to be on the defensive given all the negative press that's come its way in recent weeks, it's behaving in quite the opposite fashion according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports the bank has been meeting with its investors recently to convince them why its employees are totally entitled to record bonuses this year. And then there's Deutsche Bank:
The bank threw its holiday party at 230 Fifth Avenue on Tuesday night, which was followed by a messy after-party at Deweys Flatiron:
"They were doing car-bomb races, shots of Patron and So-Co and lime shots," a person familiar with the matter said. Over a hundred people packed the bar, which only had a single bartender working that night. The wait for a drink made several of the Deutsche Bankers impatient enough to complain to the bartender. But it wasn't so long as to stop them from getting outrageously drunk. More than one of the bankers was seen vomiting inside the bar.
It almost makes you want to go back to the fall of 2008, doesn't it?
After The Deutsche Bank Holiday Party Things Got Seriously Messy [BI]
Bank of America’s TARP Move Helps Shed Stigma [NYT]
Goldman Takes Offensive on Pay [WSJ]