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The battle between Wells Fargo and Citi for Wachovia is over and Wells is the winner. Citi walked away citing concerns over Wachovia's loan portfolio. Wells gets to greatly expand its banking franchise but also inherits billions in bad loans.

Nouriel Roubini, an economist who predicted the credit crisis said in a speech yesterday that the world is teetering on the brink of a financial meltdown. He offered several steps that he think should be taken immediately to prevent a severe global depression, including cutting rates by 150 basis points, which for the US would bring the Fed Funds rate to 0.

Today, the Fed cut rates by 50 basis points or 1/2 percent. Savings, CD, and Money Market rates will drop as a result.

Today the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and four other central banks lowered their rates with unprecedented coordination. The question is, will it work?

Here's the central problem in the credit crunch that has gripped the world. Housing prices keep falling and the news doesn't get any better. The WSJ just published an article that says that 1 in 6 homeowners owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth.

We expected it would happen and today Washington Mutual cut its savings and cd rates. They were once some of the top rates in the country but they have now dropped off the rate tables. RIP.

Capital One is offering a $50 bonus for opening a Capital One Savings account and funding it with $25,000 within 30 days of opening it.

I don't wade often into stock speculation but this article in the WSJ caught my eye. It makes a case for buying XLF, the exchange traded fund for the financial sector. Good idea? I'm not sure it is.

It wasn't long ago (three weeks to be exact) that everyone was talking about the threat of inflation. Now as commodity prices collapse, everyone is talking about deflation. The credit crisis has done the Fed's work on the inflation front. I expect rates are going to drop.

Here's an interesting one sent to me from Everbank. They have a new CD product that consists of currencies from countries that have strong balance of payments and positive trade deficits.

The House passes the rescue plan or bailout bill today and President Bush swiftly signed it into law. It not only provides up to $700 billion to buy up toxic assets, but temporarily raises the limit on FDIC insurance to $250,000 per person per institution.

And we thought banking was boring. Citi today shot back and threatened a lawsuit to block Wells Fargo from stealing Wachovia.

In a surprise move, Wachovia scrapped its deal with Citi and agreed to be acquired by Wells Fargo. Wells not only agreed to buy the whole bank, but raised its offer price and did the deal without any government assistance.

People are selling instinctively now and not on principles or valuations. Apple and Google can prevent this.

I like Joe Biden. I think he is real, but I couldn't believe what he said in the first half of yesterday's debate.