The broker-dealer model took two bullets last week, when Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch agreed to a takeover by Bank of America. Attention turned to the last two remaining, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Credit default swaps on Morgan Stanley reached a high of 998 basis points, higher than Lehman Brothers had been on the Friday before it filed for bankruptcy. Goldman Sachs CDS hit a high of 620 basis points last week.