Things Are Getting Better On Wall St.? Lehman (LEH) To Cut 5% Of People

Against a back-drop of several Wall St. analysts saying the credit crisis will damage bank earnings into 2009, Lehman Bros. (LEH) will cut 5% of its work force, according to Reuters. The brokerage has already let 5,000 people go over the last year.

The news hits as Oppenheimer made comments today that banks may produce another $170 billlion of write-downs over the next year.

Citigroup (C) dropped almost 4% today to $22.11 but still trades well above its 52-week low of $17.99. JP Morgan (JPM) was down almost 5% to $43.70, but still sits above its 52-week low of $36.01.

Those lows will be tested again.

Douglas A. McIntyre