Stocks on Wall Street Fight to Shake Negativity

As trading got underway, several financial firms appeared to be getting government help as well. Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) garnered strong interest in a government-backed issuance of $2 billion to $3 billion in bonds, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The sale is expected to conclude Tuesday, and Citi and General Electric (GE Quote) are expected to stage similar government-assisted bond sales.

Meanwhile, staggering insurance firm American International Group (AIG Quote) announced voluntary restrictions on executive compensation and said that CEO Edward Liddy would receive a base salary $1 a year for 2008 and 2009. AIG has received hundreds of billions of dollars in government investments and aid this year.

As financial firms continued to weave their way through the credit crisis, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that its count of troubled banks climbed from 117 in the second quarter to 171 in the third quarter. The agency also said that the total assets controlled by problem banks increased from $78.3 billion to $115.6 billion in the same period.

FDIC head Sheila Bair said in a press conference that the increase in the number of problem banks reflects ongoing troubles in the U.S. economy and the seizure in the credit markets.

"I don't think there's any great surprises," said Hogan of Jefferies. "Unfortunately we know that there are a lot of banks that have issues, and a lot of them will be folded into other banks by the end of the year."

In Chicago, President-elect Barack Obama announced his selection of Peter Orszag to direct the Office of Management and Budget. Orszag is currently the director of the Congressional Budget Office. Obama also named majority staff director of the House Appropriations Committee Robert Nabors as deputy director of the OBM.