If the stock is off for any reason today, it's because some of the other industrial peers raised expectations.
Looking at the next two to three years, you need a real economic dislocation to weaken GE.
It deserves a premium due to its scale, diversity and growth.
What's specifically positive about Bear is that they're getting more M&A volume and other non-fixed-income revenue.
At the end of the day the market moves to earnings.
You're still in the beginning of the upturn in its long-cycle businesses, and that's why it's projecting very strong earnings momentum for the next several quarters.
I miss his charisma. People listen to Warren Buffett for investment ideas and Bill Gates for technology. There was a general consensus that when Greenberg spoke about insurance, you wanted to listen.
The big negative is their retail franchise was weak, hurt by contracting net interest margin.
Any time you get an FDA warning letter it is negative.
It's positive that AIG settles. AIG has more than enough capital.
They were always behind Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers in trading, but they've redoubled their efforts in the last 24 months to increase investment spending in that area. Now they're getting the double benefit of good markets and more resources.
a one-time event but part of doing business, so if you split the difference, (profit per share) is 99 cents.
A key thing investors wanted to see was strength in corporate and investment banking, and we got that.
It's still good momentum. Cash flow for the year was up significantly.