When Merrill Lynch put out a research note saying that Bank of America might
buy Barclays, Alphaville was not impressed, calling the Merrill research "bolshy"
and "spivvy".
When CreditSights puts out a research note saying that JPMorgan Chase might
buy Citigroup, however, Alphaville is much kinder, calling CreditSights "gutsy"
and repeating uncritically its view that the takeover "is a distinct possibility".
I know that Jamie Dimon has Jimmy Lee on his side, but even Jamie and Jimmy
between them might find it hard to rustle up more than $200 billion, which is
what it would cost to buy Citigroup, especially given the way that global liquidity
has rather dried up of late. I’d put this into the "rampant speculation"
bucket, rather than the "distinct possibility" one.