Posted by Jack
“Forced mergers are adding to the ranks of the U.S. superbanks, with Wachovia Corp. talking to bigger rival Citigroup Inc. about a combination after taking a pounding in the stock market, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. swallowing the assets of Washington Mutual Savings Bank after that lender imploded.” Wachovia shares plunged on Friday, at one point down over 34%, but rallied back toward the close. After hours trading caught wind of the proposed merger between Citi and Wachovia; both stocks took off. Look for them to make big gains on monday, especially if a banking bailout deal is announced. Wachovia was trading low $9 and just days ago it had hit as high at $22.45! When big bank stocks trade wildly like the former “dot.coms” you know the financial world is in the process of a whole new era…and it looks like the world now belongs to the new Super Banks!
The Wachovia Corporation was formed through a series of mergers over the years that not only made it one of the country’s largest financial institutions, but earned it a reputation as an acquisition machine. In 2006, it bought Golden West Financial, one of the last major independent banks on the West Coast, in a $26 billion deal. In May 2007, it swallowed up A. G. Edwards in a $6.8 billion deal that made Wachovia Securities the countrys second-largest retail broker after Merrill Lynch.