Another friend writes

A friend who works in finance in NYC writes:

these are the scariest, most stressful times i have ever lived through: probably equal in magnitude to some past short spurts but the magnitude and the tape bombs are incredible. i worked the whole night lehman filed for bankruptcy. it is amazing how fast the names in the fin’l community have changed and how fast the shape of the fin’l system has changed. an era that started just before i got in the biz has ended… i am keeping my powder dry. have avoided a lot of the downside- i nver bot into 70% eqty. i was probably 30% last aug and have whittled down to about 10%, and seek the LOWEST yield in my cah- tsy only money mkt fund and tsy’s themselves. i did get knicked a bit in fannie pfd’s- only b/ i cant stand my voice broker at smith barney whom i threw a bone and gave a trade. the stuff i bot myself electronically, i sold at a profit. since i am only 10% in stocks and i have some short term losses, i am trading short term when i am not totally swamped doing my job, which is not often. i have done 3 trades, sent 2 bbrg’s and had 2 quick conversations in the span of `5 minutes it is taking me to write this… i feel like exam time back in school- exhausted, cramming for exams, just tryingto get to the finish line.

(A “bbrg” is a message sent through Bloomberg.)