Lehman in sale talks as survival questioned

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Lehman in sale talks as survival questioned - sources

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-12 10:21

On the commodities side, nervous futures clients of Lehman were pulling out their money. Lehman lost 22 percent of its Futures Commission Merchant assets last month, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) show.

Analysts and Buysiders

Goldman downgraded Lehman's stock to "neutral" from "buy," and removed it from its Americas buy list on Thursday.

"Management did not successfully put to rest the issues that had been pressuring the stock," William Tanona of Goldman wrote.

Oppenheimer's Meredith Whitney said Lehman's initiatives were a "step in the right direction," but she continued to expect a tough 2008 for the investment bank.

Lehman faces challenges to earnings, given difficult capital markets for the next several quarters and potential write-downs of its remaining risk exposures, Whitney said.

On the buy side, uncertainty remained about the company's final plan or the strength of its credit ratings.

Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings all said they may cut Lehman's ratings after the firm's results.

"There wasn't anything there that we could rely on. They say they want to sell 55 percent of Neuberger Berman. That's great, but who is going to buy it?" said Helena Ocampo of Sentinel Advisors in Montpelier, Vermont.

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